Leto does appear on occasion riding a chariot with her son Apollo on Greek vases or stands by him while he plays his kithara. This is her one active mythic role: once Apollo and Artemis are grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a dim and benevolent matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played. Related Content In Greek mythology, Leto (/ˈliːtoʊ/; Greek: Λητώ Lētṓ; Λατώ, Lātṓ in Dorian Greek, etymology and meaning disputed) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother, by Zeus, of Apollo and Artemis. When Hera, the most conservative of goddesses — for she had the most to lose in changes to the order of nature — discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she realized that the offspring would cement the new order. There, stretched out and defenceless in the deepest and darkest reaches of the Underworld, the Giant’s liver is constantly pecked at by two vultures (or an eagle in some versions). They had 12 children, known as the Titans and the Titanesses. She is the mother, with Zeus, of the twin deities Apollo and Artemis. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Worship of Leto continued into Roman times, especially in Anatolia where festivals and competitions were held in her honour. Such representations appear as early as the 7th century BCE, notably at Dreros on Crete.

Leto was threatened and assailed in her wanderings by chthonic monsters of the ancient earth and old ways, and these became the enemies of Apollo and Artemis. The Letoon continued to be popular in the imperial Roman period and was even visited by Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE). In Crete, at the city of Dreros, Spyridon Marinatos uncovered an eighth-century post-Minoan hearth house temple in which there were found three unique figures of Apollo, Artemis and Leto made of brass sheeting hammered over a shaped core (sphyrelata). Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn. Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation is a non-profit organization. License. Leto was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. The story was famously represented on the throne of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Cartwright, Mark. Rose considers his name and nature uncertain, he is in one Roman source given the name Polus, which may relate him to the sphere of heaven from pole to pole. Most accounts agree that she found the barren floating island of Delos, still bearing its archaic name of Asterios, which was neither mainland nor a real island, and gave birth there, promising the island wealth from the worshippers who would flock to the obscure birthplace of the splendid god who was to come. For the duration of Leto 's pregnancy, Hera created problems. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus. Leto's introduction into Lycia was met with resistance; there, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, when Leto was wandering the earth after giving birth to Apollo and Artemis, she attempted to drink water from a pond in Lycia. Classical Greek myths record little about Leto other than her pregnancy and her search for a place where she could give birth to Apollo and Artemis, since Hera in her jealousy had caused all lands to shun her. Despite this odd relationship between deity and mortals, worship of Leto was especially promoted by the 4th century BCE ruler of Xanthos, Arbinas (he whose tomb is now in the British Museum in London and referred to as the Nereid Monument). Leto, pregnant by Zeus, sought a place of refuge to be delivered. Besides honouring her son, Delos also possessed a sanctuary specifically dedicated to Leto with a temple within which stood a small wooden statue of the deity.
In Greek inscriptions, the Letoides are referred to as the "national gods" of the country. The Titaness, in order to escape the wrath of Zeus’ wife Hera, had been forced to travel far and wide across the Aegean because most city-states were too afraid to give aid following Hera’s warning of dire consequences if they did. Leto sometimes appears in scenes showing the birth of Apollo where she often holds on to a palm tree for support. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. In this version, Leto then nipped across to Delos to bear Apollo. Her Titan father is called "Coeus," and though H. J. The Niobe narrative appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book VI), where Latona (Leto) has demanded the women of Thebes to go to her temple and burn incense.

Otherwise, the Titaness is difficult to identify in art without accompanying inscriptions because she has none of the particular attributes seen with Olympian goddesses like Athena’s helmet and Demeter’s ear of grain. The nine-day delivery was so troublesome that Leto had to grasp hold of a palm tree and olive tree for support. In addition, the ancient Greeks did consider Delos as the last resting place of the Hyperboreans. Delos possessed a sanctuary specifically dedicated to Leto with a. Xanthos' sanctuary dedicated to Leto was made the federal sanctuary of all of Lycia in the 2nd century BCE. The famed specialist of Greek mythology, Robert Graves adds that the quarrel between Hera and Leto may represent an ancient rivalry between settlers from what is today Israel/Palestine and indigenous peoples in Anatolia, each side worshipping a different earth goddess. She was an early and favourite lover of Zeus. Other scholars (Paul Kretschmer, Erich Bethe, Pierre Chantraineand R. S. P. Beekes) have suggested a Pre-Greek origin. To punish this insolence, Latona begs Apollo and Artemis to avenge her against Niobe and to uphold her honor. Leto was associated with the site because it was believed she had stopped there with her twins when returning to Mount Olympus from Delos. Leto. Leto was identified from the fourth century onwards with the principal local mother goddess of Anatolian Lycia, as the region became Hellenized. It is also perhaps significant that in Greek mythology, Leto is brought to Delos by a south wind. The foundation of Delphi followed immediately upon the birth of Apollo. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. While the pregnancy started before the marriage, Hera was still jealous of Leto. Finally, Leto settled on seemingly her only option: the small and barren island of Delos. The earliest certain remains excavated there date to the 7th century BCE, but there was likely an even older cult at the site dedicated to a local mother goddess symbolised by the presence of a spring. Veneration of a local Leto is attested at Phaistos (where it is purported that she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis at the islands known today as the Paximadia (also known as Letoai in ancient Crete) and at Lato, which bore her name. There was, of course, a further Letoon at Delos. There, Herodotus was given to understand, the goddess whom Greeks recognised as Leto was worshipped in the form of Wadjet, the cobra-headed goddess of Lower Egypt. In Delos and Athens she was worshipped primarily as an adjunct to her children. Mark is a history writer based in Italy. She also appears in Greek art, particularly scenes showing her alongside her more famous children. The wanderings of Leto were ascribed to the jealousy of Zeus’s wife, Hera, who was enraged at Leto’s bearing Zeus’s children. Also she bare Asteria of happy name, whom Perses once led to his great h… Xanthos was the largest city in Lycia and the sanctuary of Leto was located just a few kilometres to the south. The Ancient History Encyclopedia logo is a registered EU trademark. Among the first 12 Titans were Coeus and Phoebe, the parents of Leto, who was born on the Greek island of Kos in the southeastern Aegean Sea.She was a Leto was the Greek goddess of motherhood and modesty, but the reverence that she was once held in is primarily due to the fact that Leto was the mother of two important deities, Apollo and Artemis. Delos Panoramaby Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA).

To the Romans, the goddess was known as Latona.

She pushed Leto out of Olympus. Obedient to their mother, the twins slay Niobe's seven sons and seven daughters, leaving her childless, and her husband Amphion kills himself. Zeus had turned all the people of Thebes to stone so no one buried the Niobids until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them. 10 Steps To Your Faith Inspired Transformation: Healthy, Happy... Jared Leto Beautiful Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Adult Coloring... Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff (trans. However, by the 5th century CE, a Christian church had been built at the site using many blocks once used in the pagan temples. As Leto Phytia she was a mother-deity. The Titaness was thought to have washed Apollo and Artemis in the spring, although she was not made welcome and so turned the local inhabitants into frogs. There is, too, a 108-line Greek inscription dating to 208 BCE asking for cash assistance from Cytinium, which was not successful. Cartwright, M. (2019, November 15). Another version, in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo and in an Orphic hymn, states that Artemis was born before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia, and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth there to Apollo.