The birth of Apollo and Artemis in the Book of Revelation

Chapter 12 in the Book of Revelation appears to be based in part upon the birth of the Greco-Roman god and goddess Apollo and Artemis (the twins):

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Revelation 12:1-4 KJV

To see the comparison, you can read about Leto (the mother of Apollo and Artemis) and their mythical birth here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leto

Hera banned Leto from giving birth on "terra firma", the mainland, any island at sea, or any place under the sun.

Interestingly, this may put the goddess Hera in the role of the "great red dragon". The crown wore by the so-called Statue of Liberty (SOL) is similar to the crown said to have been worn by the goddess Hera. For further comparison purposes, the SOL has seven rays upon its head and ten shields on each side of the base upon which it stands (cf. "seven heads and ten horns").

Or perhaps the "great red dragon" is based upon this part of the myth:

Leto was threatened and assailed in her wanderings by chthonic monsters of the ancient earth and old ways, and these became the enemies of Apollo and Artemis. One was the giant Tityos ... Another ancient earth creature that had to be overcome was the dragon Pytho, or Python, which lived in a cleft of the mother-rock beneath Delphi and beside the Castalian Spring. Apollo slew it but had to do penance and be cleansed afterwards, since though Python was a child of Gaia, it was necessary that the ancient Delphic Oracle passed to the protection of the new god.

I'm not saying that the Book of Revelation is a mere retelling of the Greco-Roman myths, but I do think that a complete understanding of what the book means requires a knowledge of things that the writer John would have known as a person educated in the Greco-Roman system of beliefs.

The birth of Apollo and Artemis signified the end of an age, and the birth described in Revelation Chapter 12 heralds the end of our age.