According to legend,the goddess Leto fled here from Mount Olympos to protect her twin babies, Apollo and Artemis, from Zeus's jealous wife, Hera. Local shepherds tried to drive her away, but she was aided by friendly wolves, in whose honour she changed the name of the area to Lycia (after Lykos, Greek for wolf). She then turned the shepherds into frogs. Apollo and Artemis became the ruling deities of Lycia.Here in Letoon there are three temples in various stages of reassembly. Replacement parts have been cast and are sitting there waiting for a block builder-puzzle assembler to rebuild the temples. The temples are surrounded by ponds and as we walked along the banks of the ponds hundreds of shepherds, the very shepherds that Leto turned into frogs, leapt off the bank and into the water. The males would then hang there, floating near the surface of the water, with brilliant chartreuse stripes gleaming in the sunshine.
The ponds also housed hundreds of turtles who were sunning themselves on the ancient ruins, which had toppled off their pediments and partially submerged in the ponds.
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