The Greek Maia was identified in Roman mythology with Maia Maiestas (also called Fauna, Bona Dea (the 'Good Goddess') and Ops), a goddess who may be equivalent to an old Italic goddess of spring. The month of May was named for her; the 1st and 15th of May were sacred to her. Maia was associated with Vulcan, and on the first of May the flamen of that god sacrificed to her a pregnant sow, an appropriate sacrifice also for an earth goddess such as Bona Dea: a sow-shaped wafer might be substituted. The goddess was accessible only to women; men were excluded from her precincts. Maia, in Greek mythology, is the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. ... Roman mythology, the mythological beliefs of the people of Ancient Rome, can be considered as having two parts. ... In Roman mythology, Bona Dea (the good goddess) was a goddess of fertility, healing, virginity and women. ... A Sabine goddess, Ops (plenty) was a fertility deity and earth-goddess in Roman mythology. ... Ancient Italic peoples are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. ... Look up May in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A flamen was a priest of the Roman religion. ...
Reference
Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898
Maia, in Greek mythology, is the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione.
Maia was identified in Roman mythology with MaiaMaiestas (also called Fauna, Bona Dea (the 'Good Goddess') and Ops), a goddess who may be equivalent to an old Italic goddess of spring.
Maia was associated with Vulcan, and on the first of May the flamen of that god sacrificed to her a pregnant sow, an appropriate sacrifice also for an earth goddess such as Bona Dea: a sow-shaped wafer might be substituted.
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