Hesiod in Theogony identifies Peitho as the daughter of the Titans Tethys and Okeanus, which would make her an Okeanid and the sister of notable goddesses such as Dione, Doris, and Metis.

[14] However, commentary on Euripides' Orestes notes that Peitho is the wife of Phoroneus, the primordial King of Argos, and the mother of Aegialeus, Apis, Europs and Niobe.

[17] Pindar characterizes Peitho, either as the abstract concept of persuasion or the goddess, as the wise one that holds the "secret key to holy love", associating her with Aphrodite.

[19] Peitho often appears on a 5th century epinetron by the Eretria Painter depicting Harmonia’s bridal preparations with Aphrodite, Eros, Persephone (Kore), Hebe, and Himeros as in attendance.

[21] In art, she was also depicted at the weddings for Dionysus and Ariadne, Alkestis and Admetos, Thetis and Peleus, and at the union of Aphrodite and Adonis.

[5] A hydria attributed to the Meidias Painter shows Peitho fleeing from the scene of the abduction of the Leukippidai by the Dioskuri, indicating either that she persuaded the women into eloping or that she does not condone the marriage by Athenian standards.

[23] In art, Peitho is often represented with Aphrodite during the abduction of Helen, symbolizing the forces of persuasion and love at work during the scene.

[27] Notably in Athens, the unification (synoikismos) of the city by Theseus was only possible with the intervention of both Aphrodite and Peitho to create democratic spirit and cooperation.

[5] In Argos, she was paired with the early kings of the city, functioning as a civic unifier in a similar role as Harmonia, the first Queen of Thebes.

[31] Peitho was worshipped independently as the goddess of both sexual and rhetorical persuasion in Athens from the 4th century into the Roman Imperial era, the time of Pausanias’s writing.

[5] Peitho’s association with Artemis may have formed due to a shared with importance with adult development and the loss of sexual innocence.

[32] Peitho was commonly shown wearing jewelry, fixing her clothing, holding jars of perfume, or looking into mirrors, traits that may be associated with hetairai.

[34] The aetiological myth for this practice was that the citizens of Sicyon refused to purify the twin gods after the slaying of Python, and as a result a plague was sent to the city.

[35][36] In Megara, statues of Peitho and Paregoros (personification of soothing words) stood in the Temple of Aphrodite Praxis (of intercourse).