Editing Leto (section)

=== Other works ===
[[File:Apollo Tityos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2689.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Apollo slays Tityos next to Leto, Attic [[red-figure]] kylix, 460–450 BC, by the [[Penthesilea Painter]], [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]].]]

[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] writes that the [[rooster]] is Leto's sacred animal as he was by her side when she gave birth to her twins; this is why ancient women would have a rooster at hand while delivering their children, believing the bird to promote an easy childbirth.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [https://topostext.org/work/560#4.29 4.29]</ref> He also wrote that the ichneumon ([[mongoose]]) is also sacred to her.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [https://topostext.org/work/560#10.47 10.47]</ref>

Satirical author [[Lucian]] of [[Samosata]] featured Leto in one of his ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''. There, Hera mocks Leto over the children she gave Zeus, downplaying Artemis and Apollo's importance while bringing up their flaws (such as the flaying of [[Marsyas]], or the killing of the [[Niobids]]). Leto sarcastically says that not all goddesses can be blessed to be the mother of gods like [[Hephaestus]], and calmly tells Hera that she might feel confident belittling everyone due to her status as queen of the gods as the wife of Zeus, but she will cry and sob all the same the next time he shall abandon her for the love of some mortal woman.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'': [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section16 Hera and Leto]</ref>

In one of his ''Idylls'', poet [[Theocritus]] asks Leto to bless the newlyweds [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] with children.<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86553/page/n75/mode/2up?view=theater 18: An Epithalamium for Helen].</ref>

In [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], there were several "theogonies" which, similar to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', told myths explaining and describing the origin of the world and the gods.<ref>See West 1983, pp. 1&ndash;3; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 p. 1]; Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. xi&ndash;xii.</ref> These texts, though now no longer extant in their entirety, survive in fragments.<ref>Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 pp. 4&ndash;5].</ref> One of these works, the "Rhapsodic Theogony", or Rhapsodies, (first century BC/AD)<ref>Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 5]; cf. West 1983, pp. 261&ndash;262.</ref> apparently called Leto the mother of [[Hecate]].<ref>[[Proclus]], ''Commentary on Plato's Cratylus'' 406 b (p. 106, 25 Pasqu.)  [= Orphic [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/214/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 188 Kern]] [= OF 317 Bernabé]; West 1983, pp. 266, 267. The fragment is as follows: "Straightaway divine Hecate, the daughter of lovely-haired Leto, approached Olympus, leaving behind the limbs of the child." (Johnston 2012, p. 123). Compare with Orphic frr. [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater 41] [= Scholiast on [[Apollonius Rhodius]] III 467 p. 463, 9], [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater 42] [= Scholiast on [[Theocritus]] II 12 p. 272, 18 Wend.] [= [[Callimachus]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wkr-0O4Un9oC&pg=PA691 fr. 556 Schneid.]] Kern, in which Hecate is called the daughter of [[Demeter]]. For a discussion of the fragment, see Johnston 2012.</ref>

A fragment of [[Aeschylus]] possibly has Leto as the mother of the [[List of lunar deities|moon goddess]] [[Selene]],<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46], Gantz, pp. 34&ndash;35; [[Aeschylus]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.173.xml fr. 170 Sommerstein] [= fr. 170 Radt, Nauck].</ref> as does a [[Scholia|scholium]] on [[Euripides]]'s tragedy ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' which adds Zeus as the father.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=lUNhAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA54 179]</ref><ref>[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dselene-bio-1 s.v. Selene]</ref>  In [[Virgil]]'s epic the ''[[Aeneid]]'', when [[Nisus and Euryalus|Nisus]] addresses the Moon/[[Luna (goddess)|Luna]], he calls her "daughter of [[Latona]]."<ref>[[Virgil]], the ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#9.367 9.404]</ref>