Adonis, Leuce, and Minthe
Adonis
Parents: Adonis' parentage is quite intersting. His mother, Princess Myrrha and her father, King Cinyras of Crete. Myrrha got into this mess by claiming that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Aphrodite acted as would be expected; she made Myrrha have an unnatural lust for her father. Myrrha asked a friend what she should do, and the friend told her to disguise herself, enter his bed, and sate her lust that way. Myrrha did so. All went well until her father discovered what was going on. He persued Myrrha, about to kill her, when the Gods took pity on her and changed her into a myrrh tree. (which cries myrrh) However, Myrrha was pregnant at the time, and so, nine months later, Adonis hatched from the trunk of her tree.
Children: None (that I know of)
Spouse/Consort: Adonis was never married. However, he was both Persephone's and Aphrodite's lover.
Important Relations: Persephone and Aphrodite, his lovers, Ares, who killed him.
Appearance: An incredibly beautiful youth. (In fact, his name has come to mean an incredibly beautiful young man...ie, "now we've all gaped at some Adonis"~Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Disney)
Personality: He's never seemed to have much of a personality to me. He does, however, love to hunt.
Stories: After he hatched, Aphrodite saw this incredibly beautiful young man. She instantly decided that she had to have him as a lover...when he grew up. But, how could she make sure that no one else stole her boy toy until he was old enough to be useful? Simple, put him in a golden box, give it to Persephone, and tell her not to open it. Well, apparently either Persephone possesses the curiosity that most people do, or isn't especially fond of Aphrodite, or both...she opens the box, finds Adonis inside, and decides that he is hers. When Aphrodite comes for the box, it is empty! (or sometimes has a piece of Persephone's jewlery...as the wife of the King of Wealth, she most likely has a very large collection of very expensive jewlery) Anyway, Aphrodite is furious, and goes to Zeus with her complaints. Eventually there is a trial in which it is decided that Adonis must spend one-third of the year with Aphrodite, one-third with Persephone, and one-third of his year he gets to do whatever he wants with. (some people claim that he spends it with Aphrodite) However, things do not look good for Aphrodite. Ares (Aphrodite's primary lover) is jealous, and turns into a boar, and kills Adonis when he's out hunting. Persphone gets him permanently (though whether or not ghosts are good for sexual purposes seems to differ with the ancient Greek authors.) Where he died, flowers sprout up.
Leuce
Parents: Her father is Oceanus...I don't know who her mother is. (She's probably mortal as Leuce is mortal)
Children: None
Spouse/Lover: In some stories, Hades. (In most stories he is only her attempted lover. Persephone is good.)
Appearance: A very beautiful maiden.
Stories: This all, of course, depends on the teller. Some will claim that Hades attempted to bring Leuce to his kingdom, but didn't get any where with her before Persephone either killed her (after which Hades changed her into a poplar) or turned her into a poplar. In others, Hades manages to take her to his kingdom, and, after she dies a natural death, he changes his mistress into a poplar in the Elysian fields. Persephone must not hate her too much, for the poplar is her tree, and her groves are made of black poplars. When Hercules descends into the Underworld, he puts Leuce's branches on his head as a crown, and they turn white. In the Aeneid Aeneas must have a wand of golden poplar in order to be safe when visiting the Underworld.
Minthe
Also Called: Mitha, Mentha, Menthe
Parents: Unknown
Children: Unknown (presumably none)
Lover: None. (Hades would have been her lover, had she lived long enough)
Appearance: A beautiful maiden, a nymph
Stories: Hades became stricken with lust for the beautiful Minthe, and so he sprang out of the earth in his golden chariot to persue her. Minthe, very impressed by a poweful God with a golden chariot would have been an easy conquest had not: (1) Persephone shown up in the nick of time to prove that, even if she wasn't especially fond of her husband, he was hers, by changing Minthe into a mint plant or (2)Persephone (or Demeter) decided to point out that no one but Persephone sleeps with Hades by tormenting Minthe to the point that Hades feels obliged to save her by changing her into a mint plant. Somehow, even though Hades never touches her, and she seems to have been willing to go along with whatever he had in mind, her story is refered to as The Rape of Minthe. Weird. Makes you wonder what they're referring to by The Rape of Persephone, doesn't it?
Texts: Mint