Leto
Daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, "always mild … gentlest in all Olympus", who bore Apollo and Artemis to Zeus. The Hymn to Apollo tells her search for a birthplace, Delos's bargain and the nine days of labour Hera prolonged; Apollodorus adds Hera's pursuit, Artemis as midwife and the assault of Tityus.
Why this wins its question: Keeps the Hymn's birth narrative apart from Apollodorus's, including the detail (Artemis as midwife) that only one of them has.
Key takeaways
- Daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, "gentlest in all Olympus" (Theog. 404–408); mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus (Theog. 918–920).
- The Hymn's birth story is Delos's bargain and nine days of labour; Apollodorus's is Hera's world-wide hunt and Artemis as midwife — not the same story.
- Twice a protector of her son in Apollodorus, and in Homer a wife of Zeus that Hermes will not strike.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
"Phoebe came to the desired embrace of Coeus … and brought forth dark-gowned Leto, always mild, kind to men and to the deathless gods, mild from the beginning, gentlest in all Olympus" (Theog. 404–408); Apollodorus: "to Coeus and Phoebe were born Asteria and Latona" (Apollod. 1.2.2).
She is Zeus's sixth consort in Hesiod: "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" (Theog. 918–920).
The Hymn to Apollo tells the birth: no land "dared receive Phoebus" until Leto reached Delos and swore by Styx that Apollo would have his temple there (HH3 45–88); she "was racked nine days and nine nights with pangs" because Hera kept Eileithyia on Olympus, until Iris fetched her and Leto, clasping the palm tree, bore Apollo (HH3 91–119).
Apollodorus compresses and alters: "Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo" (Apollod. 1.4.1). The Hymn has no pursuit and no Artemis at the birth.
Tityus "beheld her, and overpowered by lust drew her to him. But she called her children to her aid, and they shot him down with their arrows" (Apollod. 1.4.1); later, "at the intercession of Latona", Zeus commuted Apollo's sentence for killing the Cyclopes to a year's servitude (Apollod. 3.10.4).
In the Iliad's battle of the gods Hermes refuses to fight her — "a hard thing were it to bandy blows with the wives of Zeus" — and Leto gathers up the bow and arrows Artemis dropped (Il. 21.497–504); in the Hymn she alone stays by Zeus's side, unstrings Apollo's bow and hangs it on a golden peg (HH3 5–13).
Questions answered
- Who are the parents of Leto?
- "Phoebe came to the desired embrace of Coeus … and brought forth dark-gowned Leto, always mild, kind to men and to the deathless gods, mild from the beginning, gentlest in all Olympus" (Theog. 404–408); Apollodorus: "to Coeus and Phoebe were born Asteria and Latona" (Apollod. 1.2.2). source
- Where did Leto give birth to Apollo?
- The Hymn to Apollo tells the birth: no land "dared receive Phoebus" until Leto reached Delos and swore by Styx that Apollo would have his temple there (HH3 45–88); she "was racked nine days and nine nights with pangs" because Hera kept Eileithyia on Olympus, until Iris fetched her and Leto, clasping the palm tree, bore Apollo (HH3 91–119). source
- Why did Hera persecute Leto?
- Apollodorus compresses and alters: "Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo" (Apollod. 1.4.1). The Hymn has no pursuit and no Artemis at the birth. source
- Was Artemis born before Apollo?
- Apollodorus compresses and alters: "Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo" (Apollod. 1.4.1). The Hymn has no pursuit and no Artemis at the birth. source
- What does Leto do in the Iliad?
- In the Iliad's battle of the gods Hermes refuses to fight her — "a hard thing were it to bandy blows with the wives of Zeus" — and Leto gathers up the bow and arrows Artemis dropped (Il. 21.497–504); in the Hymn she alone stays by Zeus's side, unstrings Apollo's bow and hangs it on a golden peg (HH3 5–13). source