Editing Leto (section)

=== Involvement in wars ===
[[File:Altar Pérgamo Latona 01.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Leto fights Giants between her twins, Gigantomachy east frieze, [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon Museum]], [[Berlin]].]]

Leto fought alongside the other gods during the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Gigantomachy]], as evidenced from her depiction on the east frieze of the [[Pergamon Altar]], fighting a Giant between her children Artemis and Apollo;<ref>Ridgeway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6Jj6rcIup4C&pg=PA35 p. 35].</ref> None of the other Gigantomachy depictions includes Leto, although her presence is conjectured in one of the missing sections of the [[Siphnian Treasury|Siphnian frieze]] from Delphi, another relief depiction of the battle of the gods against the Giants.{{sfn|Fontenrose|1959|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h56ansk4SyQC&pg=PA56 56]}}

When the gigantic [[Typhon]] attacked Olympus, all the gods transformed into animals and fled to [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] terrified,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph5.php#anchor_Toc64106315 5.139] ff</ref> or alternatively Typhon attacked them once they had assembled in Egypt in great numbers.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''De astronomia'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.28.2 2.28.2]</ref> Leto turned into a [[shrew]] mouse.<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Metamorphoses'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#28 28]</ref> Leto was equated with the Egyptian goddess [[Wadjet]], a cobra goddess, however other Egyptian gods and goddesses were also connected to shrew mice.{{sfn|Celoria|1992|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cHt0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]}} Additionally, the Egyptians would embalm small animals like ichneumons and shrew mice and put their mummies in bronze containers.{{sfn|Celoria|1992|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cHt0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]}}

[[File:(28) Flaxman Ilias 1793, gestochen 1795, 192 x 343 mm.jpg|thumb|right|280px|''Leto and her children come to Troy's aid'', Iliad engraving, [[John Flaxman]].]]

Leto also took part in the [[Trojan War]], on the Trojans' side, along with her children Apollo and Artemis. When Apollo saved [[Aeneas]] from the battlefield, he brought him to one of his own temples in nearby Pergamus, where he was healed by Artemis and Leto.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#5.445 5.445]</ref> Later, when the gods battle each other, Leto supports the Trojans, standing opposite of [[Hermes]], who supports the Achaeans.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#20.40 20.40]</ref> 

After witnessing Hera defeat Artemis and beating her with her own bow, and Artemis fleeing in tears, Hermes refuses to challenge Leto, encouraging her to simply tell everyone she beat him fair and square. Leto picks up Artemis's discarded bow and arrows and runs after her crying daughter.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#21.495 21.495]</ref> According to a scholium on the ''[[Iliad]]'' that claims to report [[Theagenes of Rhegium|Theagenes]]'s interpretation of the gods' battle, Hermes here represents reason and rationality (''{{lang|grc|λόγος}}'', "logos") as opposed to Leto, who stands in for forgetfulness (''{{lang|grc|λήθη}}'', "lethe", perhaps a wordplay on Leto's name).<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh02homeuoft/page/194/mode/2up 20.67]</ref>