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In Greek mythology, Leto (; ''Lētṓ''; Λατώ, ''Lātṓ'' in Dorian Greek, etymology and meaning disputed) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, the sister of Asteria.〔Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 403.〕 and mother of Apollo and Artemis. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace.〔Herodotus 2.98; Diodorus Siculus 2.47.2.〕 In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins,〔Pindar consistently refers to Apollo and Artemis as twins; other sources instead give separate birthplaces for the siblings.〕 Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus. Classical Greek myths record little about Leto other than her pregnancy and her search for a place where she could give birth to Apollo and Artemis, since Hera in her jealousy had caused all lands to shun her. Finally, she finds an island that is not attached to the ocean floor so it is not considered land and she can give birth.〔Karl Kerenyi notes, ''The Gods of the Greeks'' 1951:130, "His twin sister is usually already on the scene".〕 This is her one active mythic role: once Apollo and Artemis are grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a dim〔Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 406; "dark-veiled Leto" (Orphic Hymn 35, To Leto〕 and benevolent matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played. In Roman mythology, Leto's equivalent is Latona, a Latinization of her name, influenced by Etruscan ''Letun''.〔Letun noted is passing in Larissa Bonfante and Judith Swaddling, ''Etruscan Myths'' (series: The Legendary Past) (British Museum/University of Texas Press) 2006, p. 72.〕 In Crete, at the city of Dreros, Spyridon Marinatos uncovered an eighth-century post-Minoan hearth house temple in which there were found three unique figures of Apollo, Artemis and Leto made of brass sheeting hammered over a shaped core (''sphyrelata'').〔Marinatos' publications on Dreros are listed by Burkert 1985, sect. I.4 note 16 (p.365); John Boardman, ''Annual of the British School at Athens'' 62 (1967) p. 61; Theodora Hadzisteliou Price, "Double and Multiple Representations in Greek Art and Religious Thought" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 91 (1971:pp. 48–69), plate III.5a-b.〕 Walter Burkert notes〔Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985.〕 that in Phaistos she appears in connection with an initiation cult. Leto was identified from the fourth century onwards with the principal local mother goddess of Anatolian Lycia, as the region became Hellenized.〔The process is discussed by T. R. Bryce, "The Arrival of the Goddess Leto in Lycia", ''Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte'', 321 (1983:1–13).〕 In Greek inscriptions, the Letoides are referred to as the "national gods" of the country.〔Bryce 1983:1 and note 2.〕 Her sanctuary, the Letoon near Xanthos predated Hellenic influence in the region, however,〔Bryce 1983, summarizing the archaeology of the Letoon.〕 and united the Lycian confederacy of city-states. The Hellenes of Kos also claimed Leto as their own. Another sanctuary, more recently identified, was at Oenoanda in the north of Lycia.〔Alan Hall, "A Sanctuary of Leto at Oenoanda" ''Anatolian Studies'' 27 (1977) pp 193–197.〕 There was, of course, a further Letoon at Delos. Leto's primal nature may be deduced from the natures of her father and mother, who may have been Titans of the sun and moon. Her Titan father is called "Coeus," and though Herbert Jennings Rose considers his name and nature uncertain,〔Herbert Jennings Rose, ''A Handbook of Greek Mythology'' (1991:21).〕 he is in one Roman source given the name Polus,〔In the surviving summary of the preface to Gaius Julius Hyginus, Koios is translated literally, as ''Polus'': "From Polus and Phoebe: Latone, Asterie".〕 which may relate him to the sphere of heaven from pole to pole. The name of Leto's mother, "Phoebe" (Φοίβη — literally "pure, bright"), is identical to the epithet of her son Apollo, Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων, throughout Homer. ==Etymology== Several explanations have been put forward to explain the origin of the goddess and the meaning of her name. Older sources speculated that the name is related to the Greek λήθη ''lḗthē'' (oblivion) and λωτός ''lotus'' (the fruit that brings oblivion to those who eat it). It would thus mean "the hidden one".〔W. Smith, ed. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' 1873, at (Theoi.com )〕 In 20th-century sources ''Leto'' is traditionally derived from Lycian ''lada'', "wife", as her earliest cult was centered in Lycia. Lycian ''lada'' may also be the origin of the Greek name Λήδα ''Leda''. Other scholars (Paul Kretschmer, Erich Bethe, Pierre Chantraine and R. S. P. Beekes) have suggested a Pre-Greek origin.〔R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 855 and 858–9.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leto」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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