Leto

Greek · deity · primordial · Recorded classification

Titaness daughter of Coeus, mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus.

Parentage

Λητὼ Φυτίη greek · Lētṑ Phytíē'Leto the Engenderer/Planter' — cult-title at Phaestus in Crete, in the Leukippos myth of sex-changeAntoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 17 (primary)
Λητοῖ greek · LētoîLeto worshipped as the great mother-goddess at the Letoon, the federal Lycian sanctuaryLetoon trilingual inscription (Xanthos) (primary)
Κοιογένεια Greek · Koiogeneia · literarydaughter of CoeusCallimachus, Hymn to Delos (primary)
κυανόπεπλος Greek · kyanopeplos · literarydark-robedHesiod, Theogony (primary)

sibling: HecateFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Coeus & Phoebe) per the figures' cited genealogy.
interpretatio: WadjetHdt calls the cobra-goddess of Buto 'Leto', as nurse-protector of Apollo-Horus on the floating island Chemmis. Preserves the divine-child protection; breaks on Wadjet's uraeus kingship-emblem role.Herodotus, Histories 2.155-156 (oracle of Leto at Buto) (primary)
equated with: LadaThe Lycian national mother (eni mahanahi) was identified with Leto at the Letoon, anchoring the Greek Leto-in-Lycia myth. Preserves mother-of-the-divine-twins; the native goddess is a general mother-of-gods.T. R. Bryce, The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources (1986), on the Letoon (secondary)
father: CoeusHesiod, Theogony 404–409 (primary)
mother: PhoebeHesiod, Theogony 404–409 (primary)
counterpart of: LatonaTradition-specific counterpart; this link does not transfer parentage.Hyginus, Fabulae, Preface; Hesiod, Theogony 918–920 (primary)
counterpart of: LetoThe hymn addresses this deity in an Orphic ritual context; Greek genealogy is not imported.Orphic Hymns, 34 (Thomas Taylor numbering; modern hymn 35) (primary)