Editing Hera (section)

=== Leto and the Twins: Apollo and Artemis ===
In the early works of [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]], Hera displays no inherent animosity towards Leto or her children (for being children of an affair, that is. She quarrels with them for political reasons in the ''[[Iliad]]''). In Hesiod’s ''[[Theogony]]'', [[Leto]] is presented as one of Zeus’ wives prior to Hera, giving no indication that Hera disliked them. In later variations of this story, our earliest account being the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Delian Apollo''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hymn 3 to Apollo, To Delian Apollo |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=3 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>, Hera was enraged when she discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father; especially when she was told that Apollo would be more dear to Zeus than Hera's son [[Ares]]. Hera received help from Ares and Iris to prevent Leto from giving birth, whence they “threatened all the cities which Leto approached, and prevented them from receiving her.”<ref>"Callimachus, ''Hymn to Delos''"</ref>  Alternatively, [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] convinced the nature spirits to prevent [[Latona]] (Leto) from giving birth on [[Solid earth|terra-firma]], the mainland, any island at sea, or any place under the sun,<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' 140).</ref> but Poseidon felt pity to Leto and guided her to the floating island of [[Delos]], which was neither mainland nor a real island where Leto was able to give birth to her children.<ref>Hammond. ''Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' 597-598.</ref> Afterwards, Zeus secured Delos to the bottom of the ocean.{{sfn|Freese|1911|p=184}} The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped her daughter [[Eileithyia]], the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods bribed Hera with a beautiful necklace nobody could resist and she finally gave in.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Rutherford |first1=Ian |year=1988 |title=Pindar on the Birth of Apollo |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=65–75 |doi=10.1017/S000983880003127X |jstor=639206 |s2cid=170272842}}</ref>

Either way, Artemis was born first (earlier sources make no mention of them being twins, so Artemis could be any age older than Apollo<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hymn 3 to Apollo, To Delian Apollo |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=3 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>) and then assisted with the birth of Apollo.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheke'' 1.4.1; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Metamorphoses'', 35, giving as his sources Menecrates of Xanthos (4th century BCE) and Nicander of Colophon; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' vi.317-81 provides another late literary source.</ref> Some versions say Artemis helped her mother give birth to Apollo for nine days.<ref name=":4" /> Another variation states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of [[Ortygia]] and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo. 

Later, [[Tityos]] attempted to rape Leto at the behest of Hera. He was slain by Artemis and Apollo.

This account of the birth of Apollo and Artemis is contradicted by [[Hesiod]] in [[Theogony]], as the twins are born prior to Zeus's marriage to Hera.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hesiod |title=Theogony |pages=Line 918}}</ref>