BUTO

an Egyptian divinity, whom the Greeks identified with their Leto, and who was worshipped principally in the town of Buto, which derived its name from her. Festivals were celebrated there in her honour, and there she had also an oracle which was in high esteem among the Egyptians. (The History of Herodotus II)

According to Herodotus, she belonged to the eight great divinities and in the mythus of Osiris and Isis she acts the part of a nurse to their children, Horus and Bubastis. Isis entrusted the two children to her, and she saved them from the persecutions of Typhon by concealing them in the floating island of Chemnis, in a lake near the sanctuary at Buto, where afterwards Bubastis and Horus were worshipped, together with Buto. (The History of Herodotus II)

Stephanus of Byzantium appears to speak of an earlier worship of Buto (Leto) at Letopolis near Memphis but Letopolis was in later times known only by its name, and was destroyed long before the time of Cambyses.

As regards the nature and character of Buto, the ancients, in identifying her with Leto, transferred their notions of the latter to the former, and Buto was accordingly considered by Greeks as the goddess of night. This opinion seemed to be confirmed by the peculiar animals which was sacred to Buto, viz. the shrew-mouse and the hawk. Herodotus states, that both these animals were, after their death, carried to Buto and, according to Antoninus Liberalis, Leto (Buto) changed herself into a shrew-mouse in order to escape the persecution of Typhon. About this mouse Plutarch relates, that it was believed to have received divine honours in Egypt because it was blind, and because darkness preceded light. This opinion of the ancients respecting the nature of Buto has been worked out with some modifications by modern writers on Egyptian mythology.