Leto
deity figure · 17 works · 24 mentions · 34 anchored passages
lovely Leto · rich-haired Leto · Latona · Leto with the lovely tresses · dark-gowned Leto · daughter of great Coeus · queenly Leto
spoken of as
1 expressionin the texts
Iliad
Mother of Apollo, named in identifying the god who sends the plague.
Not a word he spoke, but went by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo whom lovely Leto had borne.
It was the son of Zeus and Leto;
There was queen Demeter again, and lovely Leto, and yourself - but with none of these was I ever so much enamored as I now am with you.
Iphigenia in Tauris
Mother of Artemis and Apollo, invoked to argue that so noble a parentage could not have produced a goddess who truly desires human sacrifice.
It is not possible that Leto, the wife of Zeus, gave birth to such folly.
O daughter of Leto, Dictynna of the mountains, to your hall, to the golden walls of your temple with beautiful pillars,
Lovely is the son of Leto, whom she, the Delian, once bore in the fruitful valleys, golden-haired, skilled at the lyre;
Theogony
Titan-generation goddess, daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, described as mild and kind to gods and men alike.
Then the goddess through the love of the god conceived and brought forth dark-gowned Leto, always mild, kind to men and to the deathless gods, mild from the beginning, gentlest in all Olympus.
And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the aegis, and bore Apollo and Artemis delighting in arrows, children lovely above all the sons of Heaven.
Odyssey
Mother of Artemis, mentioned within the simile comparing Nausicaa to the huntress goddess among her nymphs.
As the huntress Artemis goes forth upon the mountains of Taygetus or Erymanthus to hunt wild boars or deer, and the wood-nymphs, daughters of Aegis-bearing Zeus, take their sport along with her (then is Leto proud at seeing her daughter stand a full head taller than the others, and eclipse the loveliest amid a whole bevy of beauties), even so did the girl outshine her handmaids.
for he had violated Zeus’ mistress Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.
They threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them, before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or chin.
Against Ctesiphon
Goddess named in the dedication of the sacred land and curse.
If any one should violate this, it says, whether city or private man, or tribe, let them be under the curse, it says, of Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronaea.
The Pythia replied that they must fight against the Cirrhaeans and the Cragalidae day and night, bitterly ravage their country, enslave the inhabitants, and dedicate the land to the Pythian Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronaea, that for the future it lie entirely uncultivated;
And never, it says, may they offer pure sacrifice unto Apollo, nor to Artemis, nor to Leto, nor to Athena Pronaea, and may the gods refuse to accept their offerings.
Birds
The mother of Apollo and Artemis, invoked in the Priest's litany as 'the mother of the quails' in the bird-adapted pantheon.
to the swan of Delos, to Leto the mother of the quails, and to Artemis, the goldfinch.
Stromata
Leto, consort of Zeus and mother of Apollo, whose mistreatment by Tityus is cited as a mythic/chronological marker.
Leto, indeed, is in the time of Tityus, for "Leto he dragged, the glorious consort of Zeus";
Against Meidias
Deity named in the oracle among recipients of prayer.
for good fortune to Apollo, god of the streets, to Leto, and to Artemis;
Ion
Mother of Phoebus Apollo and Artemis, invoked in Ion's hymn and the Chorus's prayer.
come, too, thou daughter of Latona, together come, ye virgin goddesses, fair sisters of Phoebus!
Tis Phoebus, who dwelleth in the temple, Hail Paean, healing god, good luck to thee and blessing, child of Latona!
Majestic mother of Phoebus, to our journey grant success, and may our previous dealings with thy son now find a better issue!
Orestes
The goddess mother of Apollo, named in his self-identification.
I am Phoebus, the son of Leto, drawing near to call you by name.
The Histories
One of the eight primeval Egyptian gods, resident at Buto, who hid the infant Apollo/Horus on the island of Khemmis to protect him from Typhon.
that on this island that did not move before, Leto, one of the eight gods who first came to be, who was living at Buto where this oracle of hers is, taking charge of Apollo from Isis, hid him for safety in this island which is now said to float, when Typhon came hunting through the world, keen to find the son of Osiris.
Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver;
Shield of Heracles
Goddess named as the mother of Apollo in the depiction of the gods' assembly on Heracles's shield.
and in the midst the son of Zeus and Leto played sweetly on a golden lyre.
Works and Days
Mother goddess who bore Apollo, referenced in explaining the holiness of the seventh day of the month.
To begin with, the first, the fourth, and the seventh— on which Leto bore Apollo with the blade of gold—each is a holy day.
Hymn 27 to Artemis
Divine mother of Artemis and Apollo, praised as bearing outstanding children among the immortals.
There she hangs up her curved bow and her arrows, and heads and leads the dances, gracefully arrayed, while all they utter their heavenly voice, singing how neat-ankled Leto bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and in deed.
Hymn 3 to Delian and Pythian Apollo
Leto is the goddess mother of Apollo and Artemis, Apollo's attendant in Olympus and the laboring mother who secures Delos as Apollo's birthplace.
And I will never cease to praise far-shooting Apollo, god of the silver bow, whom rich-haired Leto bare.
Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bare glorious children, the lord Apollo and Artemis who delights in arrows;
for when they have praised Apollo first, and also Leto and Artemis who delights in arrows, they sing a strain telling of men and women of past days, and charm the tribes of men.
Hymn 4 to Hermes
Leto is invoked through Apollo's maternal identity as the mother of the son who pursues Hermes.
And if Leto's most glorious son shall seek me out, I think another and a greater loss will befall him.
” --> So Hermes the shepherd and Leto's glorious son kept stubbornly disputing each article of their quarrel:
But the Son of Leto was aware and failed not to perceive the beautiful mountain-nymph and her dear son, albeit a little child and swathed so craftily.
Hymn 5 to Aphrodite
Leto is a goddess whom Anchises considers as a possible identity of the radiant visitor.
-->“Hail, lady, whoever of the blessed ones you are that are come to this house, whether Artemis, or Leto, or golden Aphrodite, or high-born Themis, or bright-eyed Athena.