Editing Leto (section)

=== Chthonic assailants ===
[[File:Apollo Tityos Leto Louvre G375.jpg|thumb|left|260px|Apollo piercing with his arrows Tityos, who has tried to rape his mother Leto (c. 450–440 BC)]]

Leto was threatened and assailed in her wanderings by ancient earth creatures that had to be overcome, [[chthonic|chthonic monsters of the ancient earth]] and old ways, and these became the enemies of Apollo and Artemis for attempting to cause harm to their mother.

One of the monsters that came across Leto was the dragon [[Python (mythology)|Python]], which lived in a cleft of the mother-rock beneath Delphi and beside the [[Castalian Spring]]. Once Python knew that Leto was pregnant to Zeus, he hunted her down with the intention to harm her, and once he could not find her, he returned to [[Parnassus]].<ref name=":fab"/> 

An epigram from 159 BC seems to imply that Python in particular wanted to rape Leto.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA47 47]}}{{efn|The ambiguity here lies in the use of the verb chosen, {{lang|grc|σκυλάω}} (''skuláō''), alternative form of {{lang|grc|σκυλεύω}} (''skuleúō''), meaning το strip or despoil a slain enemy of his arms and gear,{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA47 47]}}<ref>''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'' s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*s111%3Aentry+group%3D47%3Aentry%3Dskuleu%2Fw {{lang|grc|σκυλεύω}}]</ref> not entirely applicable to the myth of a mother fleeing from danger. Compare also {{lang|grc|σκυλλώ}} (''skullṓ''), meaning "to maltreat, to molest."<ref>''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'' s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*s111%3Aentry+group%3D47%3Aentry%3Dsku%2Fllw {{lang|grc|σκυλλώ}}]</ref>}} According to some, Python was sent by Hera herself to attack Leto, out of jealousy for having been preferred by Zeus{{sfn|van der Toorn|Becking|van der Horst|1999|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA670 670]}}{{sfn|Fontenrose|1959|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h56ansk4SyQC&pg=PA18 18]}} and he knew of a prophecy that he would find death at the hands of Leto's unborn son.<ref name=":fab" />{{sfn|Fontenrose|1959|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h56ansk4SyQC&pg=PA18 18]}}[[File:Tityos Leto Louvre G42.jpg|thumb|right|The Rape of Leto by [[Tityos]] (c. 515 BC): Apollo (left), tries to grasp Tityos, Leto (middle) pushes him and Artemis (right), ready to stop him. Attic red-figure amphora from Vulci. c. 510–520 BCE, by [[Phintias (painter)|Phintias Painter]]. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]According to [[Clearchus of Soli]], while Python was pursuing them, Leto stepped on a stone and, holding her son in her hands, cried {{lang|grc|ἵε παῖ}} (''híe paî'', meaning "shoot, child") to Apollo, who was holding a bow and arrows.{{sfn|Mayhew|Mirhady|Dorandi|White|2022|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oiVmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 68]}} Apollo slew it but had to do penance and be cleansed afterward, since though Python was a child of Gaia, it was necessary that the ancient [[Pythia|Delphic Oracle]] passed to the protection of the new god.

Another one was the giant [[Tityos]], a phallic being who grew so vast that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by [[Gaia]] (the Earth) herself. He attempted to rape Leto near [[Delphi]]<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/54/mode/2up?view=theater 1.758 ff]</ref> under the orders of Hera, like Python was, for having slept with Zeus,<ref>Pseudo-[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#55 55]</ref> or alternatively he was simply overwhelmed with lust when he saw her.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.4.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.4.1]</ref> 

Tityos took hold of Leto and attempted to force himself on her, but she called out for her children, and Tityos was laid low by the arrows of Apollo and/or Artemis, as Pindar recalled in a Pythian ode. As he laid dying, his mother Gaia moaned over her slain son; Leto only laughed.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.183739/page/n149/mode/2up?view=theater 3.390 ff]</ref> For the crime of having tried to rape Leto, one of Zeus' mistresses, he was punished by having his liver being constantly eaten by two vultures in the [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D567 11.580 ff]</ref>{{efn|Compare the punishment of [[Prometheus]].}}