a) Mercurius and Maia

The Roman goddess Maia, ‘mother’ or ‘nurse’,⁸⁹³ is the other usual consort of Mercurius, mainly in Alsace, the valley of the Rhine and in the south-east of Gaul. In Greek mythology, Maia, who is the eldest of the seven Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas and Pleione, is a minor figure.⁸⁹⁴ She is actually not the wife of Hermes/Mercury, as depicted in the Gallo-Roman iconography, but her mother. The Romans held her in high esteem and added to her legend the persecution by Juno and her transformation into a star by her lover.

Mercurius and Maia are honoured together in dedications from Germany⁸⁹⁵ and from the territory of the Allobroges, notably in Villaz (Haute-Savoie): Mercurio et Maiae T(itus) Coelius, ‘To Mercurius and Maia, Titus Coelius (offered this)’,⁸⁹⁶ and in Saint-Hillaire (Isère): Mercurio et Maiae G. Verrius Aurelius ex voto, ‘To Mercurius and Rosmerta, G. Verrius Aurelius offered (this stele*).⁸⁹⁷ In those two inscriptions, the dedicators are Roman citizens, for they bear the duo and tria nomina. The couple is also venerated in the valley of the Rhine, such as in Mertzwiller (Bas-Rhin): Mercurio et Maiae sacrum Sennaus Le[…] filius Gnata Lutevi filia […]ratulla filia Rufino et Quadrato cos.⁸⁹⁸ This altar is interesting, for the dedicator Sennaus (*Sennāgo-) has a Celtic name,⁸⁹⁹ as well as his mother Gnata (‘Daughter’)⁹⁰⁰ and his grandfather Lutevius (‘Swamp Dweller’).⁹⁰¹ A fragment of a stele*, discovered in 1845 between the villages of Pfaffenhoffen and Ringeldorf (Bas-Rhin), might have represented the heads of Mercury and Maia with an inscription identifying them: [Mer]c(urio) et Maiae [I]lliomarus [Toc?]issae filius vslm, ‘To Mercurius and Maia, Illiomarus son of Tocissa(?) paid his vow willingly and deservedly’.⁹⁰² This relief* is now destroyed. The name of the dedicator Illiomarus ‘Great- (?)’ is Celtic,⁹⁰³ as well as the name of his mother: Tocissa is mentioned in another inscription from Strasbourg.⁹⁰⁴ Their unique name indicates they were peregrines.

Like Rosmerta, Maia is sometimes venerated on her own, such as in the inscriptions from Germersheim (Germany),⁹⁰⁵ Neustadt (Germany) (see fig. 30),⁹⁰⁶ Saintes (Charente-Maritime),⁹⁰⁷ Grenoble (Isère)⁹⁰⁸ and Lyons (Rhône).⁹⁰⁹ In Lyons, the inscription [M]aiae aug(ustae) s(acrum), ‘Sacred to the August Maia’, is engraved under a very damaged relief* representing the goddess seated and draped, wearing shoes and probably holding a basket of fruit in her hands.⁹¹⁰ Interestingly, Maia is honoured in triple form in a stele* from Metz (Moselle), which echoes the cult of the Matres and Matronae: In Honore[m] Domus Divinae Dis Maiiabus Vicani Vici Pacis.⁹¹¹ Under the inscription stand three veiled goddesses; the two on the left used to hold an apple in their hands. This is the only existing example of a tripled Maia.