Editing Minthe (section)

== Mythology ==
{{Greek myth (nymph)}}

The [[naiad]] Minthe, daughter of the infernal river-god [[Cocytus]], became concubine to [[Hades]], the lord of the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] and god of the dead.{{sfn|Grimal|1996|page=286}}<ref>[[Photius I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]], ''Lexicon'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=RoRiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA572 μίνθα]</ref> In jealousy, his wife [[Persephone]] intervened and metamorphosed Minthe, in the words of [[Strabo]]'s account, "into the garden [[mentha|mint]], which some call ''hedyosmos'' (lit. 'sweet-smelling')". A [[Minthi (mountain)|mountain]] near [[Pylos]] was named after Minthe, where one of the few temples of Hades in [[Greece]] was situated:

<blockquote>Near Pylus, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Hades, was trampled under foot by Core, and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos. Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Hades<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+8.3.14&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198 8.3.14].</ref></blockquote>

Similarly to that, a scholiast on [[Nicander]] wrote that Minthe became Hades' mistress; for this Persephone tore her into pieces, but Hades turned his dead lover into the fragrant plant that bore her name in her memory.<ref>[[Scholia]] ad [[Nicander|Nicandri]] ''Alexipharmaca'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zy2LWzF4v3oC&pg=PA212 375]</ref>{{sfn|Darthou|2017|page=79}} [[Ovid]] also briefly mentions Minthe and her transformation at the hands of Persephone in his ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', but neglects to mention the story behind it.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph10.htm#484521431 10.728].</ref> According to [[Oppian]], Minthe had been Hades' mistress before he abducted and married Persephone, but he set her aside once he carried off and married his queen. Afterwards, she would boast that she surpassed Persephone in beauty and that Hades would soon return to her; in anger over the nymph's [[hubris|insolence]], Persephone's mother [[Demeter]] trampled her, and thus from the earth sprang the mint herb:

<blockquote>Mint, men say, was once a maid beneath the earth, a Nymph of [[Cocytus]], and she lay in the bed of Aidoneus; but when he raped the maid Persephone from the [[Mount Etna|Aetnaean hill]], then she complained loudly with overweening words and raved foolishly for jealousy, and Demeter in anger trampled her with her feet and destroyed her. For she had said that she was nobler of form and more excellent in beauty than dark-eyed Persephone and she boasted that Aidoneus would return to her and banish the other from his halls: such infatuation leapt upon her tongue. And from the earth sprang the weak herb that bears her name.<ref name="Oppian">[[Oppian]], ''Halieutica'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Oppian/Halieutica/3*.html#482 3.485 ff]</ref></blockquote>

Bell notes that Demeter went through too much pain following Persephone's abduction and partial return to tolerate any adulterous behaviour against her daughter.{{sfn|Bell|1991|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 309]}} Oppian writing that she was trampled to death is perhaps an allusion to the verb {{lang|grc|μινύθω}}, ''minytho'', meaning "to reduce".{{sfn|Hopkinson|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xNzUGMlQM80C&pg=PA193 193]}} [[Orpheus]] wrote that Demeter, seeing the mint sad, hated it, and made it barren.<ref>Etymologicum Graecae Linguae Gudianum, ''Μίνθη''. A small collection of versions of Minthe's story can be found in [[Greek language|Greek]] in [https://books.google.com/books?id=bpgqtcM8R5YC&pg=PA197 here].</ref>{{sfn|Wasson|Hofmann|Ruck|2008|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lZXpO_3szpsC&pg=PA111 111]}}

According to [[Julius Pollux]]'s ''Onomasticon'', Minthe was mentioned by the poet [[Cratinus]], an Athenian playwright of the Old Comedy, in his lost play ''Nomoi'' ("Laws").{{sfn|Edmonds|1957|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3sMUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA62 62]}}