Cyllene (nymph)

In Greek mythology, Cyllene (/saɪˈliːniː/; Ancient Greek: Κυλλήνη, romanized: Kullḗnē pronounced [kyllɛ̌ːnɛ]), also spelled Kyllene (/kaɪˈliːniː/), is the Naiad[1] or Oread nymph[citation needed] and the personification of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, the region in Greece where the god of travelers and shepherds Hermes was born and brought up.

[4] According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, Cyllene and Pelasgus had a son named Lycaon, a king of the Arcadians.

[7] According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the newborn Hermes stayed in a cave with his mother the Pleiad nymph Maia, but in Sophocles's lost satyr play Ichneutae ("trackers") it was Cyllene who nurtured the infant god.

[8] The titular satyrs, who are looking for Apollo's missing cattle (that Hermes stole) on the orders of the god, confront Cyllene who gives first an account of Zeus and Maia's amorous relationship,[9] how he deceived his wife Queen Hera in order to meet Maia and how quickly their infant is growing, scaring even her.

[13][a] The papyrus on which the fragmentary play is preserved breaks off as Apollo arrives at the scene, and so what happens next is not clear.