Maia (Roman mythology)
Maia is an old Italian goddess whose annual festival was celebrated in May . Whether the name of the month is derived from the name of the goddess, as z. B. Ovid means, or whether both go back to a common root, was already controversial in antiquity. Ausonius, for example, was unsure whether the month was named after the goddess or the ancestors (maiores) . Both would be suitable.
She was the consort of the god Vulcanus . Its priest, the Flemish Volcanalis , offered her sacrifices on the calendar of May. According to Macrobius , her sacrificial animal was a pregnant sow. Also after Macrobius, Maia was identified with the Bona Dea . Another festival in honor of the goddess took place on May 15th in the Temple of Mercurius at the Circus Maximus .
Since Virgil she was considered the mother of Hermes , and accordingly the mother of the Roman Mercury, was therefore completely equated with the Greek Maia , which is why she was then venerated by traders and merchants as a donor of rich profits.
From when the cult of Maia and Mercurius was spread beyond Rome is unclear. In any case, dedication inscriptions were widespread in the imperial era , especially in the settlement areas of the Celts , where Maia was often identified with Rosmerta . Representations from the Celtic-Germanic area, in which a female figure appears next to Mercurius, who often bears a cornucopia or the attributes of Mercurius, Caduceus , purse or patera , are therefore considered representations of Maia / Rosmerta.
A notable representation of the Maia as a Triassic was found in Metz . It shows three female figures in long robes and resembles the depictions of the matrons . The attributes held in the hand by the three Maiae have been destroyed. The inscription reads: In Honore [m] Domus Divinae Dis Maiiabus Vicani Vici Pacis .
swell
- Aulus Gellius noctes Atticae 13, 23, 2.
- Ausonius eclogae 10, 9-10
- Horace carmina 1, 2, 43
- Horace saturae 2, 6, 5
- Macrobius convivia primi diei Saturnaliorum 1, 12, 18-21
- Ovid fasti 5, 81-106
- Ovid Metamorphosen 2, 685-686; 11, 303
- Virgil Aeneis 8: 138-141; 1, 297
literature
- Rudolf Peter: Maia II . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.2, Leipzig 1897, Col. 2235-2240 ( digitized version ).
- Henry Link: Maia (2). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 1, Stuttgart 1928, Sp. 530-533.
- B. Rafn: Maia . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VI, Zurich / Munich 1992, pp. 333–334.
- Katharina Waldner: Maia 1. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 7, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01477-0 , column 707 f.
- Marion Euskirchen: Rosmerta. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , Sp. 1140.
- Noemie Beck: Goddesses in Celtic Religion. Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon 2009, Chapter 2: Mercurius and Maia. , accessed on September 21, 2013 (English doctoral thesis).
Web links
- Aaron J. Atsma: Maia: Pleiad Nymph of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. In: Theoi Project. New Zealand 2000–2011, accessed September 21, 2013 (English; many original sources translated).