Minthe
nymphA Naiad nymph of the Underworld river Cocytus who was trampled into the mint plant by a jealous Persephone.
The Myth
Minthe was a Naiad associated with the Cocytus, the river of wailing in the Underworld. She was beautiful, and Hades noticed. Before — or in some versions, after — his marriage to Persephone, Hades took Minthe as a lover. Minthe, perhaps unwisely, boasted about it. She declared that she was more beautiful than Persephone and that Hades would surely cast his wife aside and return to her.
Persephone heard this. The Queen of the Dead was not a figure who tolerated rivals. She trampled Minthe underfoot, grinding her into the earth. From the crushed nymph grew a low, fragrant plant — mint. In an alternate version, it was Demeter who did the trampling, protecting her daughter's marriage with maternal ferocity.
Hades could not undo the transformation, but he softened it. He gave mint its sweet scent, so that Minthe would be noticed and appreciated even in her diminished form. Every time someone crushes a mint leaf and smells that sharp fragrance, the myth says, they are repeating Persephone's act and releasing Minthe's spirit.
Parents
A spirit of the river Cocytus
Children
None
Symbols
Fun Fact
Menthol, peppermint, spearmint — every product containing mint carries the name of a nymph crushed underfoot by the Queen of the Dead.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Perse
nymphAn Oceanid nymph who married the sun god Helios and bore him Circe, Pasiphae, and Aeetes — a family...
Cocytus
conceptThe river of lamentation in the Greek underworld, fed by the tears of the damned.
Demeter
godGoddess of grain, harvest, and the fertility of the earth. When her daughter Persephone was...
Demeter (Grain Mother)
godThe goddess of grain and agriculture whose grief at losing her daughter created winter and whose...
Demeter (Grain)
godDemeter was the goddess of grain, harvest, and fertility whose grief over Persephone's abduction...
Demeter Thesmophoros
godAn epithet of Demeter as bringer of divine law and civilised customs, honoured at the Thesmophoria,...
Hades
godRuler of the underworld and lord of the dead. Despite his fearsome reputation, Hades was not evil —...
Hades (God)
godHades was the lord of the underworld who received the dead — feared but not evil, wealthy from...
Hades (Unseen One)
godThe ruler of the Underworld who received the dead, guarded by Cerberus and feared so deeply that...
Persephone
godDaughter of Demeter and queen of the underworld. Her annual return from Hades brings spring; her...
Underworld
placeThe Underworld was the vast subterranean realm where all mortal souls went after death — a...
Persephone (Queen Below)
godThe daughter of Demeter who became queen of the dead — the goddess who bridges the living world and...