Use of Mint
In ancient Greece, mint was used, together with rosemary and myrtle to offset the odor of decay of the dead. The mint was also an element, along with wine, water, and grated goat cheese, in a fermented barley drink called the kykeon, a mood- and consciousness-altering entheogen given to initiates in certain mysteries that offered hope for a better situation in the afterlife.
Mint is connected to the Underworld by the myth of Menthe (Μένθη) or her Roman equivalent, Mintha.
Mint, men say, was once a maid beneath the earth, Menthe, a river nymph of the river Kokytos (Cocytus), and she lay in the bed of Hades. But when he kidnapped the maid Persephone from the Aitnaian hill [Mount Etna in Sicily], then she complained loudly, with overweening words, and raved foolishly for jealousy, and Persephone in anger trampled upon 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 Hades would return to her and banish the other from his halls. Such was the infatuation that leapt upon her tongue. And from the earth spray the weak herb that bears her name.— Strabo, Geographica VIII.3.14
Use of Rosemary
The connection of rosemary to funerary practice not only traces back to ancient Greece and Egypt, but also survives into modern times. In Shakespeare's
Hamlet, as a prelude to her suicide, Ophelia recites, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."
Rosemary, along with mint and myrtle, offset the odor of decay. Rosemary also, as a token of remembrance and respect, is sprinkled on the grave and is worn by mourners to remember the departed. The practice of wearing rosemary sprigs was revived in Australia in modern times to commemorate ANZAC Day, as rosemary grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula where so many lives were lost during World War I.
Use of Myrtle
Myrtle is used, along with to mint and rosemary, to offset the smell of decay. Myrtle is associated with life and with the mysteries of resurrection. Crowns of myrtle, worn by the deceased, invoke Iacchus, the supposed third incarnation of the god Dionysus.
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