Leda and the Swan

I love my great-grandmother's name. Leta. According to my book of names, Leta is a Latin name meaning joy. The name always reminds me of two significant women from Greek mythology: the mortal Leda, and the goddess Leto. Both were beloved of Zeus, king of the gods, and as such, had a difficult time of it.

According to the myth, Leda was queen of Sparta. Zeus was so enamored of her that he transmogrified himself into a swan and ran to her for protection from an eagle. She protected him, and they had a tryst—one night only. She also had sex with her husband that same night and became pregnant by both simultaneously. Leda laid two blue eggs. When the eggs hatched, two sets of children appeared: Helen (of Troy) and Pollux (or Polydeuces) from one egg, and Clytemnestra and Castor from the other. The first set were the children of Zeus (therefore, half-god), and the second set the children of her husband. Each of these children has her/his own tragic story, and these tragic lives so devastated Leda that she killed herself.

Leto’s story also features Zeus. She was the daughter of the pre-Greek gods, called the Titans. This generation was overthrown by their children—Zeus and his siblings. While some of the Titans faded from history, others figured into the various Greek religions. Leto was a revered Titan, because of her children. She was one of her cousin Zeus’s wives, but not his first wife. That role belonged to his sister Hera, the goddess of marriage. (Yes, the Greek goddess of marriage was married to the most philandering of all the gods.) Even as her husband Zeus took other wives, concubines and had dozens of others, Hera held tightly onto their marriage bond. This seems to have been her job, and woe to nearly all the others Zeus liked.

Leto was already pregnant when Zeus and Hera married. This infuriated the Hera: she pushed Leto out of Olympus, and ordered all of the lands in the world to refuse her shelter. Hera even sent the dragon Python to destroy her rival, but Zeus intervened on that one by having the North Wind carry Leto out to sea. She ended up on the floating island of Delos. As it was not yet affixed, it was not required to follow the orders of Hera. Leto could rest there, but not give birth, because Hera had also forbade Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to allow it. The other goddesses stood up for Leto and presented Hera with a beautiful necklace of gold and amber. This and their protestations convinced Hera to relent. Leto gave birth to twins—the gods Artemis and Apollo.

Although she finally gave birth, Leto’s struggles were unfinished. Python was still following its orders to kill her, so she had to take her babies and flee to Lycia. There her fast-growing children (they were gods, after all) with their bows and arrows from their father became expert archers and their mother’s protectors. When he was only four days old, Apollo slew Python. Eventually, Leto returned to Olympus, as the mother of two of the great Greek gods.

As for my great-grandmother Leta, she was neither beloved of a swan no titan, but extraordinary, nonetheless.