 Melaina was loved by Apollo, bearing him Delphos (although another tradition names Thyia as the mother of Delphos).Her name, meaning "the black," suggests that she presided over subterranean nymphs.These three bee maidens with the power of divination and thus speaking truth are described in Homer's "Hymn to Hermes", and the food of the gods is "identified as honey"; the bee maidens were originally associated with Apollo, and are probably not correctly identified with the Thriae.