Leto is the Titan goddess in Greek mythology. She is a goddess who nurtures and suckles, so she may have evolved into the nurse and mother of the two great gods, Artemis and Apollo. Leto's name may have meanings such as "forgotten", "vague", or "hidden", and is generally only worshipped along with her children. The daughter of Titan, the cousin and cousin of Zeus, the sixth wife of Zeus, the daughter of Coeus, one of the twelve gods of Titan, and Phoebe, the goddess of light, as well as the sister of Asteria, the meteor goddess. Her divinity is static and hidden.

According to Hesiod's records, Leto was the daughter of the Titan gods Koos and Phoebe, as well as the granddaughter of the celestial god Uranus and the earth god Gaia; Her birthplace is said to be Coase Island. Leto combined with the main god Zeus of Olympus and gave birth to two main gods, the twin sisters Artemis and Apollo. Regarding Apollo and Artemis, Pinda stated that they were twins, while other sources suggest that they were born in different places.
From his family tree, Leto may be related to celestial bodies. Sometimes, Leto is directly regarded as Cronus' daughter.
According to tradition, Leto is a common mother god in Greek mythology, used to set off important deities. This type of mother god is generally responsible for care and nurturing in mythology, and it itself does not appear much in mythology.
As a common nurturing god, Leto itself has no independent meaning in mythology, and the part of mythology that involves her is mainly about the story of giving birth to Apollo. After the birth of Artemis and Apollo, the image of Leto almost disappeared from Greek mythology, with the "veil of color covering Leto", possibly because the pantheon mentioned that Leto was born wearing a robe. In Greek mythology, black clothing generally represents sadness, but there is no such meaning in Leto's writings, so the Chinese translation is more accurate as "Goddess of the Clothes" (see "Explanation of the Divine Genealogy").
Leto withdrew from the mythological stage after giving birth to two prominent children. This mythological plot is used to explain Leto's image as a companion god that sets off Apollo and Artemis. In mythology, Leto is generally portrayed as a submissive mother, but there are exceptions. [1-2]
In classical art, Leto's image is a simple woman wearing a veil.
Her name was translated by the Romans as "Latona" in Latin and later introduced into Roman mythology.

Zeus' Lover
At the beginning, Hera, the queen of gods, discovered that Zeus and Leto were friendly and furious. She brutally persecuted Leto. Poor Leto had to hide and wander around. Later, Leto finally found a hiding island in the Aegean Sea - Delos Island. This is a floating island that often floats on the sea. Another theory is that after Leto became pregnant, the jealous queen Hera could not tolerate other goddesses giving birth to Zeus' eldest son, so she ordered the earth to prohibit her from giving birth. Leto, in pain, rushed around, and in the end, her sister Asteria transformed into the "island of ignorance" Adros stepped forward and accepted her. Zeus raised four giant diamond pillars from the seabed and fixed this floating island. Here, Leto first gave birth to the midwifery and hunting goddess Artemis. Nine days later, with the help of Artemis, he gave birth to Apollo, the god of prophecy and light.
The mother and son initially lived on a floating island. But the good times did not last long. Hera discovered them and sent a python skin to kill Leto's mother and son.
This python is a very vicious and cruel pest. It was discovered by the sea god Poseidon while crossing the sea. Poseidon stirred up strong winds and waves, blocking the python's path, saving Leto's mother and son from harm. Later, their mother and son finally got out of their predicament and returned to the ranks of the gods on Mount Olympus. Young Apollo exterminated the people and killed the python. People built an Apollo temple to express their admiration for the hero Apollo. [1]
Later, Apollo inherited Delphi's divine metaphor and became the owner of the sacred Delphi temple.
In Greek mythology, there are mainly the following myths related to Leto:

Apollo
The Homer epic mentions the birth of this deity in the chapter about Apollo. Apollo was a product of the combination of Zeus and Leto. After becoming pregnant, Leto, like other women favored by Zeus, was persecuted by the jealous Hera. Some myths mention that Hera sent the python skin born to Gaia to hunt and kill Leto. Leto had to wander around to escape this persecution; But all gods refused to provide shelter for Hera due to their fear of her power. In the end, only one mountainous island, Tiro Island, took in this goddess. It is said that the goddess promised the island of Tiro that in the future, there would be great temples to shine for the island. After settling on Tiro Island, Leto gave birth to Apollo under a palm tree on the island. According to Pindar, Artemis was also born at the same time. It is said that Tiro Island was originally a floating boulder, but it became a fixed island due to the birth of Apollo. [3]
Throughout the classical period, the island of Tiro was an important center of worship for Apollo, and the myth of Leto may have been used to explain why such a small island held a significant position in the Greek world. [1]
Titius
Titius was a giant born to Zeus and Herala (another theory suggests that his mother was Caia), with a fierce temperament. This monster attempted to rape Leto and was killed by Apollo and Artemis. It is said that Titius developed a desire for Leto because he was encouraged by Hera. Titius was imprisoned in the underworld after his death, with two giant eagles constantly pecking at his internal organs. [1]

Niobe
The wife of King Ampheon of Thebes, Niobe, dared to boast that her children were more numerous than Leto (Niobe's children were known as Niobedes, with half male and half female, and there are different versions of the exact number), but as a result, all of her children were killed by Apollo and Artemis. The usual version is that Apollo shot the sons of Niobe to death with poison arrows while hunting (some say competing in athletics), while Artemis shot all his daughters to death. In some versions, there is a child whose life is preserved due to begging for mercy. Anfion committed suicide after witnessing this tragedy, and some believe that he attempted to destroy Zeus' temple in despair, but was ultimately killed by Zeus' lightning. Niobe, disillusioned, went into exile to Mount Sipilos in Lydia (now Mount Spier in Türkiye), where he committed suicide (in a word, he turned to stone). Her tears turned into the Acherous River. Next, Zeus turned all the inhabitants of Thebes into stones, and this cruel revenge came to an end.
The story of Nieobe is very famous in Greek mythology. It is worth noting that this myth is likely to reflect a competition between two foreign goddesses, in which Nieobe failed in the competition for believers (similar to Leto, Nieobe's image also originates from Asia Minor, where she was probably originally a goddess)

Lukia Farmers
Ovid recorded a story where Leto wandered on the ground after giving birth to Apollo and Artemis. As she passed by Lykia, she attempted to drink from a local pond (some say from the spring of Melete). The farmers in Lykya refused to let the goddess drink their water, so they deliberately stirred up the mud at the bottom of the pond. In a fit of anger, the goddess turned them all into frogs. The sculpture of the central fountain at the Palace of Versailles in France reflects this story (the so-called Latona Fountain, which is the Roman name of Leto). [1]
The Trojan War
In Homer's epic Iliad, Leto usually appears in the plot of his daughter Artemis as a supporting role. In the battle of the gods, Leto faced Hermes, but Hermes used his eloquence to persuade Leto to retreat. Leto then left the battlefield with his daughter's lost bow and arrow bag.

There is no clear conclusion in the academic community regarding the nature of Leto. It is difficult to determine what god Leto is in charge of. In traditional mythology, Leto was limited to playing the roles of Artemis and the mother of Apollo and did not have independent significance. Some scholars are dedicated to analyzing Leto's family tree: from the perspective of his father, there is a certain connection between Leto's father, Koos, and the celestial sphere. The name of her mother Fubo means light. Her sister Asteria's name means "stars". These indications suggest that Leto may also be related to celestial bodies. A better approach is to analyze Leto's name from a linguistic perspective. Mythologists have long pointed out that Leto's name is not Greek. It is generally believed that the term 'Leto' originated from the Lychee language, which is consistent with the fact that Leto mythology is often related to Asia Minor. 'Leto' may be homologous with the word 'lada' in Lychee, which means' woman, wife '. In addition, Pindar mentioned a nickname for Leto: Cluseracatos, which was a nickname for Artemis as early as the time of Homer. [1]
The view of modern scholars is that Leto was a goddess introduced from Asia Minor (especially in the Lychee region). The myths about her all originate from Asia Minor. Her main shrine is located near the city of Cusantos in Lyquia, and Strabo mentioned her temple on the banks of the Cusantos River. From the literature of classical writers, we know that there is a people in Lyquia who call themselves the "Leto people". Archaeologists have discovered another site of the Leto Temple in northern Lyquia. [1]
Leto was worshipped in Asia Minor, Tyre, and Athens, but mainly as a companion deity to her two prominent children. Coase Island is also an important place of worship for Leto. Of course, the main temple of Leto is located on the island of Tiro; According to Artenius, there is the oldest statue of Leto on the island of Tiro, which is nothing but an unprocessed piece of wood. In addition, according to records, the Holy Forest of Leto is located on Rhode Island. Herodotus recorded that he had heard of the temples of Leto and Apollo in Egypt. On Crete Island, archaeologists discovered a temple from the post Minoan period, where the deities worshipped were Apollo, Artemis, and Leto. [1]
As a mother deity that sets off the two main deities, Leto usually aligns with her child's position in mythology. In the Trojan War, Leto, along with Apollo and Artemis, sided with the Trojans, perhaps implying that they were all gods from the Near East. Leto also helped the fleeing Trojan hero Aeneas (the ancestor of the Romans). The name of Asteroid 68 comes from Leto.