Hades took the nymph Minthe as his lover, but Persephone — or in some accounts Demeter — trampled her underfoot and transformed her into the mint plant.
⚠ Strabo attributes the transformation to Persephone, while Oppian credits Demeter.
Minthe was a naiad nymph of the Cocytus, the river of lamentation in the underworld. As a chthonic naiad, she embodied and guarded the dark waters of Hades' realm.
The naiad Minthe boasted she was more beautiful than Persephone and would reclaim Hades. Persephone trampled her underfoot, transforming the nymph into the mint plant.
Demeter trampled Minthe underfoot for boasting that she was more beautiful than Persephone and would win Hades back to her bed, transforming the nymph into the mint plant.
⚠ Strabo (Geography 8.3.14) attributes the trampling to Demeter; Ovid (Metamorphoses 10.728-730) gives it to Persephone.
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