Leto

Leto
Childhood goddess
Leto with the infants Apollo and Artemis, by Francesco Pozzi (1824)
Abode	Delos, Olympus
Animals	Rooster, wolf, weasel, gryphon
Symbol	Veil, dates
Tree	Palm tree, olive tree
Personal information
Born	Kos or Hyperborea
Parents	Coeus and Phoebe
Siblings	Asteria
Consort	Zeus
Offspring	Apollo and Artemis
Equivalents
Roman equivalent	Latona
Egyptian equivalent	Wadjet

Part of a series on
Ancient Greek religion
Origins Ancient Greek religion Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean religion and Mycenaean deities Minoan Civilization, Minoan religion Classical Greece Hellenistic Greece, Hellenistic religion
Sacred Places Sacred Islands Delos Ithaca Naxos Kythira Samothrace Crete Lemnos Sacred Mountains Mount Lykaion Mount Ida (Turkey) Mount Ida (Crete) Mount Olympus Mount Kyllini Mount Othrys Sanctuaries Aornum Delphi Didyma Dion Dodona Eleusis Olympia Other Cave of Zeus Troy
Deities Primordial deities Aether Ananke Chaos Chronos Erebus Eros Gaia Hemera Nyx Ourea Phanes Pontus Tartarus Uranus Olympians Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Demeter Dionysus Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Poseidon Zeus Chthonic deities Hades Persephone Angelos Demeter Erinyes Gaia Hecate Iacchus Melinoë Triptolemus Trophonius Lesser deities Alpheus Amphitrite Asclepius Bia Boreas Circe Cybele Deimos Eileithyia Enyo Eos Eris Harmonia Hebe Hecate Helios Heracles Iris Kratos Leto Maia Metis Momus Nemesis Nereus Nike Pan Persephone Phobos Priapus Proteus Rhea Scamander Selene Thanatos Themis Thetis Triton Zelus Zephyrus
Concepts Worldview Greek mythology Orphic Egg Underworld and Afterlife Miasma Daimon Greek Heroic Age Divine and Reality Apeiron Monism Polytheism Pantheism Form of the Good Theory of forms Mind Anamnesis Ataraxia Apatheia Episteme Epoché Katalepsis Logos Nous Phronesis Soul Anima mundi Metempsychosis Henosis Plato's theory of soul Ethics Arete Hubris Xenia Ethic of Reciprocity Delphic maxims Adiaphora Eudaimonia Kathekon Oikeiôsis Mysteries Eleusinian Mysteries Orphism Dionysian Mysteries
Practices Worship Agalma Dithyramb Paean Orgion Hiera Orgas Hero Cult Oracle and Pythia Sacrifices and Offerings Holokaustos Libation Votive offering Animal Sacrifice Temples and holy sites Temple Temenos Meditation and Charity Eusebeia Meditation Euergetism Rites of passage Amphidromia Marriage Funeral Rites Festivals Thesmophoria Dionysia Daphnephoria Anthesteria Arrephoria Kronia Genesia Elaphebolia Pyanopsia Khalkeia Haloa Halieia Thargelia Three Monthly Festivals Deipnon Noumenia Agathodaemon Religious Games Panathenaia Herakleia Panhellenic Games Olympic Games Nemean Games Pythian Games Isthmian Games
Philosophy Pythagoreanism Neopythagoreanism Platonism Middle Platonism Neoplatonism
Philosophers Ancient Hesiod Homer Pherecydes of Syros Pythagoras Xenophanes Parmenides Empedocles Socrates Plato Aratus Plutarch Plotinus Iamblichus Julian (emperor)
Texts Argonautica Bibliotheca Corpus Hermeticum Delphic maxims Derveni papyrus Dionysiaca Epic Cycle Homeric Hymns Iliad Odyssey Orphic Hymns Theogony Works and Days
Other Topics Pilgrimage Sites Calendar Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism Julian restoration Modern Restoration
Religion portal  Ancient Greece portal
v t e

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Leto (/ˈliːtoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Λητώ, romanized: Lētṓ pronounced [lɛːtɔ̌ː]) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo and Artemis.^[1] She is the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and the sister of Asteria.

In the Olympian scheme, the king of gods Zeus is the father of her twins,^[2] Apollo and Artemis, whom Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eye of Zeus. Classical Greek myths record little about Leto other than her pregnancy and search for a place where she could give birth to Apollo and Artemis, since Hera, the wife of Zeus, in her jealousy ordered all lands to shun her and deny her shelter.

Hera is also the one to have sent the monstrous Python, a giant serpent, against Leto to pursue and harm her. Leto eventually found an island, Delos, that was not joined to the mainland or attached to the ocean floor, therefore it was not considered land or island and she could give birth.^[3] In some stories, Hera further tormented Leto by delaying her labour, leaving Leto in agony for days before she could deliver the twins, especially Apollo. Once Apollo and Artemis are born and grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played.

Besides the myth of the birth of Artemis and Apollo, Leto appears in other notable myths, usually where she punishes mortals for their hubris against her. After some Lycian peasants prevented her and her infants from drinking from a fountain, Leto transformed them all into frogs inhabiting the fountain.

In the story of Niobe, Queen Niobe boasts of being a better mother than Leto due to having given birth to fourteen children, as opposed to only two. Leto asks her twin children to avenge her, and they respond by shooting all of Niobe's sons and daughters dead as punishment. In another myth, the gigantic Tityos attempted to violate Leto, only for him to be slain by Artemis and Apollo. Usually, Leto is found at Olympus among the other gods, having gained her seat next to Zeus, or accompanying and helping her son and daughter in their various endeavors.

In antiquity, Leto was usually worshipped in conjunction with her twin children, particularly in the sacred island of Delos, as a kourotrophic deity, the goddess of motherhood; in Lycia she was a mother goddess. In Roman mythology, Leto's Roman equivalent is Latona, a Latinization of her name, influenced by Etruscan Letun.^[4] In ancient art, she is presented as a modest, veiled woman in the presence of her children and Zeus, usually in the process of being carried off by Tityos.