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42 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
Bronze Age Flower Power:
The Minoan Use and Social Signicance
of Saron and Crocus Flowers
Rachel Dewan
While iconography of the natural world abounds in the art of the Bronze Age
Minoan culture, one plant seems particularly prevalent; represented on ceramics,
in wall-paintings, and on votive objects are numerous depictions of the crocus
ower. The saffron spice, a product of the ower, was carefully recorded in Linear
B texts, testifying to its importance as a valuable economic commodity, but its
inclusion in highly detailed iconographic representations and the contexts within
which they were found attest to a signicance that extended beyond commercial
import. Particularly associated with women in the spheres of Minoan industry,
medicine, and religion, the pervasive importance of saffron and the crocus ower
made it not only a valuable commodity throughout the Bronze Age Mediterranean
world, but also an integral part of culture and identity for Minoan women.
43
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Bronze Age Flower Power
Introduction
With oral scrolls, marine motifs, animal
iconography, and vast landscapes evident in
much of Minoan art, a connection between
Minoan art and nature has been noted by
scholars since Sir Arthur Evans rst uncovered
the remains of this Bronze Age culture in
1900.1 Indeed, the interpretation of the natural
world’s signicance to the Minoans has been
perpetuated by the numerous depictions of
Aegean ora and fauna, even exaggerated to
the extent that the Minoans are sometimes
referred to as the “hippies of the ancient
world.”2 As overstated as this characterization
may be, the natural world was clearly of great
signicance for the Minoans, and further
investigation reveals that specic plants and
animals were regarded with particular esteem.
The crocus ower is an intriguing example
of one of those plants. The crocus and the
saffron spice derived from this ower appear in
a myriad of contexts within the archaeological
record of the ancient Aegean. Each one
held meaning for Bronze Age peoples, and
“it is the specic social context in which this
meaning operate[d] which is important,”3
from iconographic representations to Linear
B texts. This evidence sheds light on saffron’s
status as a substance particularly revered by
Minoan women, employed in the creation
of a female social identity. Celebrated for its
medicinal benets, used in the dyeing and
perfuming industries, and traded throughout
the Mediterranean, the versatility of the plant
led to the inclusion of saffron and crocus
iconography in ritual and symbolic contexts,
becoming a distinct symbol of Minoan women
and the feminine sphere. By exploring its
presence in the decorative iconography of
ceramics, wall-paintings, and votive objects,
amongst others, the prominence of the crocus
plant within the industrial, medicinal, and
religious realms of Minoan society can be
revealed.
Terminology and Chronology
Before embarking on discussions concerning
Aegean cultures, it is pertinent to note the
challenges inherent in the nomenclature.
“Minoan,” in its proper sense, refers only
to the Bronze Age peoples of Crete.4 The
chronological period of Late Minoan (LM)
IA, however, saw a spread of Minoan cultural
traits and objects throughout many previously-
independent Cycladic islands. Given the
heavily Minoanized nature of sites such as
Akrotiri on Thera and Ayia Irini on Kea, it is
tempting to consider the effect that a “Minoan
thalassocracy” may have had on Crete’s island
neighbours (g. 1).5 While emulation does
not necessarily imply political control,6 the
discovery at Akrotiri of approximately seventy
sealings made of Knossian clay and stamped
with a Cretan seal suggests an administrative
connection between the two islands, one
which may have extended to other Minoanized
Cycladic sites.7
“Mycenaean” is a similarly difcult term.
Though named for the central site of the
period, the heartland of the Mycenaean
world is considered to be the mainland of
Greece, specically the Argolid (Fig. 1 inset).
Figure 1: Map of the Aegean with signicant Late Bronze
Age sites. Inset highlights the important sites of the
Argolid (courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
44 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
Mycenaean material culture, however, can be
found throughout the Mediterranean, and its
dominance on Crete from LMII to LMIIIB is
termed the “Mycenaean period.”8 Although
Crete’s political situation at this time is unclear,
it is likely that mainland Mycenaeans exerted
authority over the island, contributing to a
decrease in traditionally “Minoan” culture and
a rise in mainland trends.9
With these terminological problems
acknowledged, this paper will use “Minoan”
to refer to the peoples of the pre-Mycenaean
Aegean at large, and “Mycenaean” to discuss
the mainland culture which dominated LMII-
LMIIIB Crete when examining the evidence
found in the textual and archaeological records.
Saffron in the Bronze Age Aegean
Today, saffron is familiar as a spice with a subtle
yet distinctive avour, produced by drying the
stigma of the crocus plant. As the fragility of
the crocus ower and the ne-motor work
required to separate the stigmas demand that
this process be done by hand, saffron continues
to be one of the few crops in the world whose
manufacture is non-mechanized.10 Estimates
hypothesize that about 400 hours of labour
is needed to produce just one kilogram of
saffron.11 The visual motifs and detailed
written records of Bronze Age crocuses and
saffron, however, indicate that such labour was
deemed to be a worthwhile endeavour.
The earliest representation of a crocus
ower can be seen on an Early Kamares
cup from Knossos dating to MMIA-IB (g.
2).12 Trifoliates became more popular as a
decorative motif in MMIB-II, but it is the
prominently protruding stigmas of the crocus
Figure 3: Conical rhyton from Palaikastro decorated
with the ‘Crocus and Festoon’ LM IB Floral Style
motif ( Betancourt 1985:143, Fig. 108).
Figure 2: The earliest depiction of a crocus in the
Bronze Age Aegean, painted on a Kamares Cup
from the Town Drain at Knossos (Negbi and
Negbi 2002:269, Fig. 2).
45
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Bronze Age Flower Power
Figure 4: Linear B tablets Np 85 from the Room
of the Chariot Tablets (a) and Np 856 from the
North Entrance Passage (b) at Knossos. The
saffron ideogram is highlighted in yellow (after Day
2011a:374, Fig. 2 and 375, Fig. 3).
which allow for its specic identication.13
Perhaps more than a visual cue, this emphasis
may reect the importance of the stigmas to
those who harvested the crocus ower, for it
is the stigmas which are made into saffron.14
By LMIA, the crocus appeared in naturalistic
ceramic motifs that bore similarities to
its synchronous appearance in frescoes,
particularly the exaggeration of the stigmas.15
In LMIB, crocus iconography reached its
peak, its artistic height visible in the detailed
‘crocus and festoon’ motif found on
rhyta
and
vases in Crete and Cycladic islands (g. 3).16
The ower shapes themselves are strikingly
similar to crocus forms in contemporaneous
wall-paintings, revealing the interconnected
relationships between artistic media.17
By LMIII, the crocus ower became less
popular as a decorative motif, but continued
to be represented iconographically in the
ideograms of Linear B, the written language
of the period. The appearance of the saffron
ideogram (CROC) on 59 whole or partial
tablets like those in Figure 4 is therefore
indicative of its economic and, as the evidence
below reveals, industrial importance. The
additional fact that it was the only spice to
be measured by weight, in the same small,
intricate values used for gold, suggests that it
was considered to be a valuable commodity,
carefully monitored by the palace.18 W hy,
however, was saffron so valuable? Although its
use continued into the Mycenaean period, its
value appears to have been rooted in the social
signicance assigned to it by the Minoans.
Artistic and archaeological evidence suggests
that saffron came to be a prominent feature in
Minoan industry, medicine, and religion, and
that its pervasive importance made it and the
crocus ower particularly integral aspects of
culture and identity for Minoan women.
Saffron in the Dye and Perfume Industries
Saffron’s function as a dye is immediately
apparent when handling crocuses, for when
contact is made with the pollen and stigmas,
a brilliant yellow colour is left behind. The
powerful yellow pigment of the styles is both
water-soluble and resilient to light, colouring
up to 100,000 times its volume when diluted.19
Although the lack of written evidence from the
Bronze Age Aegean and the near-impossibility
of textile preservation in this period render
conclusive evidence non-existent, historical
and iconographic evidence can shed light on
what must have been an important industry for
the Minoans.
Saffron-coloured clothing is well-attested
in Classical Greece where the plant was the
primary dye used to produce yellow cloth and
pigments. It was, however, an expensive luxury
because its time-consuming manufacture was
set against its popular demand. As such, yellow
came to be regarded as a symbol of wealth and
power, undoubtedly due to the ability of the
wearer to purchase such an expensive dye.20
The epithet “
kroko
-,” popular in describing
various Greek heroes and heroines, may reect
this connection, conferring authority and
status upon the wearer. Homer uses the epithet
in relation to a divine being; by describing Eos’
garment as a “
krokopeplos
,” he connects the
yellow-red garment of the goddess of dawn
with the colours of her personication (
Iliad
8.1). Indeed, this symbolism seems to have
extended beyond the Greek world, and in
Mesopotamia, yellow was regarded as a colour
of divinity.21
46 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
In the Bronze Age, saffron-dye and the textile
industry as a whole appear to have had particular
connections with the Aegean, specically
Thera.22 Theran textiles were especially prized
in the ancient world, and Pliny veries that
the island’s saffron was thought superior to all
others.23 The plausible existence of a dye and
textile industry at Akrotiri is supported by the
discovery of more than 950 loomweights and
many broken murex shells.24 The concentration
of these nds within specic houses and their
absences in others suggests that residents
of Akrotiri were engaged in localized craft
specialization.25
The specic connection between Thera and
a saffron-centred industry is particularly
interesting in light of the wall-paintings
preserved at the island’s main town of Akrotiri.
One particular scene from the upper storey of
the Xeste 3 building, aptly named the ‘Saffron
Gatherers’ fresco (g. 5), depicts two girls
picking crocuses amongst a rocky landscape.
Though interpretations vary, the painting could
represent a potentially female-dominated dye
industry in which women were the designated
manufacturers.26 This interpretation is
corroborated by the fact that the gures shown
in Aegean scenes with crocuses and saffron are
predominantly female. Furthermore, while
women are often depicted wearing yellow
clothing in frescoes, the colour is absent from
depictions of male attire.27
Though not particularly famous for its saffron,
Crete was home to a thriving textile industry.
Knossian wall-paintings from the Minoan
period reveal images of striking garments
with complex woven patterns,28 and by the
Postpalatial period it is clear from Linear B
documents that Cretan palaces were concerned
with breeding sheep for wool to use in textile
manufacture. Indeed, the largest group of
Linear B tablets from Knossos, Series D, relates
to the tallying of sheep and their yields.29
Textiles, it seems, were a major export for
the Aegean, valued and desired as they were
by neighbouring cultures throughout the
Mediterranean. In Egypt, Theban tomb reliefs
depict Aegeans in procession carrying textiles
to be presented as tribute (g. 6),30 while
Aegean-style wall-paintings reect artistic
motifs derived from Minoan textiles.31 In
similar fashion, Assyrian kings had Phoenician
traders supply their courts with saffron-dyed
materials, presumably taking pride in both
the quality of the fabric and the implications
of its valuable colour.32 Supported by this
widespread market, the Aegean was able to tap
into a protable industry.
It is interesting to note that a product as
seemingly ordinary as cloth could hold such
economic importance, but Peregrine Horden
and Nicholas Purcell remind us of the unique
position held by textiles as a commodity that
sits on the threshold of luxury and necessity,
enabling it to become a coveted product subject
to the perceptions of external markets.33 The
presence of dyed animal hairs and textile bres
Figure 5: The ‘Saffron Gatherers’ fresco from
the upper storey of Xeste 3 at Akrotiri (Doumas
1992:152, Fig. 116).
Figure 6: Drawing of Register I in the foreign tribute
scene from the tomb of Mencheperresonb at Thebes
(Wachsmann 1987, Plate XXXVI, Fig. A).
47
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Bronze Age Flower Power
alongside valuable materials such as faience and
copper ingots in the LBA Uluburun shipwreck
demonstrate the commodity’s importance and
attest to the inclusion of textiles within pan-
Mediterranean trade networks.34
Most discussions surrounding the use of
saffron as a dye have restricted themselves to
textiles, but Joanna Day believes that further
investigations into its cosmetic uses are
warranted. Near Eastern cuneiform tablets
attest to the use of saffron, turmeric, and
sumac as decorative stains for hands,35 and
many of the females depicted in the frescoes
from Akrotiri, including the “Priestess” from
the West House (g. 7), are shown with red and
orange-tinted body parts, suggesting that they
perhaps applied a dye such as saffron or henna
for cosmetic or ritual reasons.36
Saffron was also an important component
of perfume manufacture. When dried, the
spice emits a pleasant aroma described by
Aristophanes as a “sensuous smell” (
Clouds
51) admired by the Greeks.37 The scent was
undoubtedly used in Classical perfumes, for
Dioscorides’ description of an όλμός vessel
references its use in the mixing of saffron
perfume with myrrh (
De Material Medica
I.54).38 From her study of the perfume
industry at Pylos, Cynthia Shelmerdine has
observed close correlations between Classical
and Bronze Age perfumery, supporting the
probability that saffron was used in earlier
periods of this industry as well.39
Saffron’s powerful pigment would also have
served as a natural colouring for the perfumes.
Indeed, it seems to have been common in
antiquity to enhance perfumes with both
colour and scent, and the inclusion of
po
-
ni
-
k
i-
jo
, or alkanet, as a red perfume dye on Linear
B documents indicates that this was common
practice in the Bronze Age Aegean.40 The
appearance of έρτις within Mycenaean texts
lends additional support; usually translated as
henna, έρτις appears in contexts which indicate
that it may have been added for both colour
and smell. The henna ower was, however,
foreign to Greece and must therefore have been
imported from its native lands of Southeast
Asia or North Africa,41 implying the trade of
dried plants throughout the Mediterranean.
Evidence for a perfume industry is difcult
to uncover without written documentation
because of the organic materials used in
manufacture, but the many
askoi
(asks)
and stirrup jars found decorated with crocus
iconography at Akrotiri are suggestive of
such an industry. Further chemical analysis
may help to identify perfumed substances, but
at present it seems likely that saffron was a
useful ingredient in both textile and perfume
manufacture.42
Figure 7: The ‘Young Priestess’ from the east door jamb of the
West House at Akrotiri (courtesy of The Thera Foundation).
48 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
Saffron in Medical Treatments
Saffron’s function as a panacea was certainly
not unknown in the ancient world. In Assyria
it was used as a treatment for a wide range of
ailments and diseases, from stomach aches
to urinary disorders.43 Likewise, Egyptian
djaret
seems to have referred to saffron with
which it shared many similarities, including its
medicinal use as a treatment for infections and
inammations, a remedy for diarrhea, and as
a contraceptive.44 Classical Greek writers also
recognized the benets, including saffron in
various remedies from antiaging treatments
to aphrodisiacs.45 Pliny believed saffron to be
benecial overall, noting that it improved the
efcacy of medicines: “All these perfumes are
rendered still more pungent by the addition
of
costus
and
amomum
…and saffron makes
them better adapted for medicinal purposes”
(
Naturalis Historia
13.2.62). Even the ancient
belief that saffron could treat ailments of the
eyes has been upheld by modern scholars, for
its high levels of carotenes and Vitamin A
may benet ocular health.46 These treatments
would undoubtedly have been shared amongst
the interacting cultures of the Mediterranean,
as they exchanged medical knowledge and
remedies.47
Amongst medicinal plants known in the Near
East and Mediterranean, saffron can claim
the largest number of applications, with 90
ethnomedical parallels.48 Of these applications,
14% are obstetrical-gynecological, supporting
the validity of the spice’s most common ancient
reference as a pain-reliever for menstrual
cramps and childbirth.49 Also known to be an
emmenagogue, saffron can act as an abortive
in high doses, and may have functioned as an
early form of birth control.50 Indeed, Robert
Arnott notes the prominent role that herbal
healing would have played within the ancient
Aegean, particularly amongst ancient midwives
and female healers.51 The fact that women,
rather than men, are shown in scenes involving
crocuses and saffron has led many scholars to
suggest that the Minoans were aware of the
gynecological benets of saffron, and thus
exploited the plant’s medicinal properties.52
One of the most notable examples of the
relationship between women and crocuses is
found on the walls of the Xeste 3 building
at Akrotiri. Known as the ‘Adorants Fresco,’
this painting originally decorated the walls
surrounding a lustral basin on the ground
oor (g. 8). Three girls are depicted along the
north wall, seemingly headed toward a possible
shrine on the east wall.53 Crocuses and saffron
stigmas are conspicuous symbols in the scene,
represented on the colourful garments of all
three females. The mature woman on the left
side of the scene walks in the direction of
the shrine wearing a blue blouse emblazoned
with crocus owers and a garland of crocus
stigmas around her neck and shoulders (g.
8).54 Beside her, the seated gure wears a belt
embroidered with crocus owers as she nurses
a wounded foot.55 The young gure on the
right is the most enigmatic, partially covered by
a translucent yellow veil sprinkled with red, and
wearing a crocus-decorated bodice.56
Figure 8: The ‘Adorants
Fresco’ from the north wall
of the ground oor lustral
basin in Xeste 3 at Akrotiri
(Doumas 1992:136, Fig.
100).
49
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Bronze Age Flower Power
Speculative theories regarding the
interpretation of the overall scene, ranging
from the depiction of a female initiation
ceremony to a mythological narrative, are
thus far inconclusive.57 The conation of
saffron’s gynecological benets, the crocus
imagery seen in the Adorants’ costumes, and
the prominence of women does, however,
suggest more than mere coincidence. Ellen
Davis’ astute observation that shaved hair
was a symbol of youth in the Bronze Age
Aegean makes it possible to identify the
differing ages of the gures, decreasing in
maturity from left to right.58 Nanno Marinatos
has therefore suggested that initiatory rites
took place in the lustral basin, with the
frescoes providing a visual metaphor for the
maturation of initiates.59 This theory, however,
remains conjectural; instead it is Paul Rehak’s
hypothesis that the gures represent stages
of female development which seems more
reasonable.60 This notion that the gures
embody the celebration of womanhood, the
pain and bloodshed which accompanies female
maturation, and the transition from girlhood
to womanhood, is particularly persuasive given
the scientic evidence for the health benets
of the plant, the textual evidence regarding its
use in early medicine, and the ancient tendency
to conate health and religious intervention,
represented here by the shrine painted on
the east wall.61 Indeed, Susan Ferrence and
Gordon Bendersky believe the medicinal
benets of saffron to have been the primary
focus of its use in Xeste 3, suggesting that
the building may have housed therapy rooms
concerned with medical treatments.62 Although
it is impossible to know for sure, the frequent
connections made between health and divine
intervention in the ancient world does suggest
that the Adorants Fresco reects the beliefs of
the time, interweaving female health and sexual
development with spiritual convictions.
Saffron in Religious Contexts
The appearance of crocus and saffron
iconography in religious contexts has
prompted many scholars to speculate on the
connection between the plant and Aegean
religion.63 Without an understanding of the
science behind agriculture, medicine, biology,
and nutrition, all spheres which saffron was
capable of affecting, it is likely that the Minoans
“made less of a distinction between secular
and religious spheres than we do today.”64
The most common references for the meeting
of these spheres are the wall-paintings from
Xeste 3 at Akrotiri. While the Adorants
discussed above graced the walls of the ground
storey, the adjacent upper storey was similarly
decorated with detailed frescoes, creating
an extensive artistic program spanning the
two levels of the structure (g. 9). Given the
iconography, symbolism, and themes shared
by the scenes, the ritual connections of the
images are understood to extend throughout
the building.
The scene on the eastern wall has been
identied above as the so-called ‘Saffron
Gatherers’ fresco, in which two girls undertake
the time-consuming task of handpicking
crocus owers. The connection between this
activity and the nished product, saffron, is
reinforced by the continuity of the scene from
the east wall onto the north, where a third girl
carries a basket towards the central gure.65
Figure 9: Reconstruction of the artistic program on
the ground and upper storeys of Xeste 3 at Akrotiri
(Immerwahr 1990:60, Fig. 20).
50 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
Although the representation of this activity
may reect aspects of an important industry
within the Minoan world, the north wall’s
fresco advocates for an additional ritual element
to be considered in its interpretation. Here,
enthroned on an elevated, tripartite structure
and anked by a heraldic grifn, sits an ornately
adorned goddess (g. 10), identied as such by
her iconographic afnities with other Minoan
deities.66 Though her back is to the saffron
gatherers, she is involved in the harvest through
the gift she is being offered; at the far left, a
young girl wearing brilliant yellow garments
empties a basket of crocuses into a receptacle.67
The laborious stigma-separation and drying
processes are not shown, but the signicance
of the nal product, saffron, is emphasized
by the presentation of red crocus stigmas to
the goddess by a blue monkey, commonly
seen as a divine attendant in Minoan art.68 The
invocation of a deity in order to enhance the
potency of a medicine was common practice
in the Eastern Mediterranean, and supernatural
touch was thought to imbue worldly materials
with divine powers.69 Thus it may have been
believed that the goddess’ acceptance of the
saffron enriched the potency of the medicine.
The religious contexts of saffron at Akrotiri
are not limited to Xeste 3. The West House
features a prominent depiction of a woman
usually regarded as a priestess because of her
ceremonial dress and the incense-burner or
brazier she holds before her (g. 7). Scholars
have suggested that the substance she burns is
saffron,70 and indeed, such a religious context
would make sense, given not only Xeste 3’s
depiction of the plant as an offering, but
also the priestess’ yellow robe and dyed eyes,
lips, and eyebrows.71 The religious function
of the ower is further corroborated by its
appearance on offering tables and altars, at
Akrotiri and throughout the Mediterranean.
This religious tradition continued even to the
7th century BCE, when the altar to Apollo
Karneios at the Theran colony of Cyrene was
decorated with a crocus motif.72
The depiction of the priestess is not the only
connection between this particular building
and saffron; the West House’s impressive
Figure 11: Drawings of the faience models of two
female dresses and one girdle, all decorated with
representations of crocus owers, found in the
Temple Repositories at Knossos (Rehak 2004:95, Fig.
5.9).
Figure 10: The enthroned goddess and
young worsh ipper from the north wall
of the upper storey of Xeste 3 at Akrotiri
(Doumas 1992:158-159, Fig. 122).
51
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Bronze Age Flower Power
artistic program includes the elaborate
Miniature Fresco, a painted frieze which wraps
around the upper walls of Room 5. This scene
depicts a vibrant maritime expedition, and
amongst the many ship decorations rendered
in colourful detail are crocus-shaped festoons
hung from one of the largest ships. Similarly,
crocus decorations appear on one of the
ikria
,
or ship cabins, painted on the walls of Room
4. It is signicant that, when represented
elsewhere,
ikria
are always shown in ritual
contexts.73
In the early 20th century CE, Arthur Evans
made an illuminating discovery at Knossos
when the Temple Repositories were unearthed
and dozens of objects were found in a ritual
context. Within this collection of MMIIIB
faience objects were faience crocuses and
models of female garments decorated with
crocuses (g. 11).74 The garment models are
particularly signicant because they support
a connection between the owers and female
dress, and if Evans’ interpretation of the
faience models as votive offerings is correct,
than here again is evidence for signicant links
between women, textiles, crocuses, and the
divine.75
Conclusion
It is clear from the iconographic evidence
that crocuses and saffron were regarded as
more than mere crops by the inhabitants
of the Bronze Age Aegean. As a functional
ingredient within the dyeing and perfuming
industries, an effective medical treatment, a
meaningful cultural symbol most likely used
in cultic activities, and a protable commodity,
the plant was revered by the Minoans as a
multifunctional resource engrained within
many facets of their society. The numerous
correlations between the valuable plant and
Minoan females, seen both in iconographic
representations and archaeological nd
contexts, suggests that saffron was held in
particularly high esteem by women of the time
who utilized its pharmaceutical benets and
embraced it as a symbol of female identity and
culture.
By the Mycenaean period, saffron’s value and
versatility were well-established, and its detailed
recording in Linear B documents reects its
status as a treasured commodity worthy of
palatial attention. Interestingly, however, crocus
imagery became a rare motif in Mycenaean
art throughout the Aegean, suggesting that
the plant lost some of its symbolism in this
later period, even as its economic importance
remained. The Mycenaean use of saffron
and crocuses lies beyond the scope of this
paper, but it is worthwhile to note that its
disappearance from the artistic record appears
to reect its corresponding loss of social
and religious signicance within Mycenaean
society.76
Today, the Minoan legacy lives on. In modern
Greece, saffron continues to be manufactured
by the Cooperative of Saffron Producers
of Kozani, an association of 40 northern
villages which maintains exclusive rights for
the harvesting and distribution of Greek
red saffron.77 Krocus Kozanis Products now
offers at least seven types of saffron herbal
teas, marketing the traditional health benets
of the plant,78 as well as newly discovered
attributes such as its antioxidant properties,
ability to neutralize free radicals, and memory
improvement.79 While there is far more to the
Minoans than their stereotype as peaceful,
ower-loving hippies, it seems that their belief
in the ‘ower power’ of the crocus was well-
founded, creating a legacy that has lasted
across the millennia.
52 Chronika
Rachel Dewan
Endnotes:
1 cf. Evans 1928, 468-512.
2 Gere 2009, 16.
3 Hamilakis 2000, 57.
4 Shelmerdine 2008, 3.
5 Hägg and Marinatos 1984, 221-222; Wiener 1990,
152.
6 Wiener 1984, 17.
7 Karnava 2010, 87.
8 Preston 2008, 311.
9 Preston 2008, 311-312.
10 Day 2011a, 377.
11 Day 2011a, 382.
12 Walberg 1992, 244.
13 The stigmas are the long, delicate pollen recep-
tacles which protrude from the centre of the ower.
Negbi and Negbi 2002, 268; Day 2011b, 342.
14 Porter 2000, 618; Day 2005, 51.
15 Day 2011b, 354.
16 Furumark 1941, 181.
17 Betancourt 1982, 34; 1985, 146.
18 Ventris and Chadwick 1973, 51; Driessen 2000,
207; Day 2011a, 371.
19 Sarpaki 2001, 204; Day 2011b, 365.
20 Douskos 1980, 141.
21 Sarpaki 2001, 236.
22 Young Forsyth 1997, 49.
23 Negbi and Negbi 2002, 268.
24 The hypobranchial gland of the
Murex
species
was used in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean
from the Early Bronze Age to the late Roman pe-
riod to create a purple or deep blue dye for textiles.
Simi lar to saffron, the immense effort and lengt h
of time needed to create this dye, as well as its great
market demand, contributed to high costs. Purple
therefore came to be considered a colour of wealth
and royalty. Ruscillo 2005, 100 and 105; Douskos
1980, 144; Tzachili 1990, 381.
25 Tzachili 1990, 385.
26 Marinatos 1984b, 175; Amigues 1988, 241-242;
Sarpaki 2000, 661-662.
27 Day 2011b, 364.
28 Tzachili 1990, 387.
29 Killen 1964, 1.
30 Wachsmann 1987, 75; 1998, 85-86.
31 Shaw 1970, 28-30.
32 Basker and Negbi 1983, 230.
33 Horden and Purcell 2000, 354.
34 Haldane 1993, 349.
35 Campbell Thompson 1924, 109; Day 2011b, 366.
36 Rehak 2004, 92; Earle 2012, 771-72; Day 2013, 9.
37 Basker and Negbi 1983, 230-231.
38 Shelmerdine 1985, 47.
39 Shelmerdine 1985, 17.
40 Foster 1977, 61-65; Shelmerdine 1985, 29.
41 Shelmerdine 1985, 28-31.
42 Young Forsyth 1997, 49; Porter 2000, 615.
43 Campbell Thompson 1949, 160; Young Forsyth
2000, 150.
44 Young Forsyth 2000, 161-162.
45 Celsus
De medicina
5.11; Pliny
Nat
. 21.81; Young
Forsyth 2000, 152-153.
46 Pliny Nat. 21.81; Young Forsyth 2000, 159;
Rehak 2002, 48; Bisti, Maccarone, and Falsini 2014,
360-361.
47 Arnott 1999, 265.
48 Ferrence and Bendersky 2004, 206 and 211.
49 Ferrence and Bendersky 2004, 214.
50 Young Forsyth 2000, 153; Rehak 2002, 48.
51 Arnott 1997, 277-278.
52 Marinatos 1987, 132.
53 Marinatos 1984a, 74.
54 Porter 2000, 623; Rehak 2002, 41.
55 Rehak 2002, 40.
56 Rehak 2004, 90.
57 Chirassi 1968, 5; Marinatos 1984a, 65.
58 Davis 1986, 399-406; Rehak 2004, 87.
59 Marinatos 1984a, 79-84.
60 Rehak 2004, 86.
61 Ferrence and Bendersky 2004, 211.
62 Ferrence and Bendersky 2004, 205 and 220.
63 Marinatos 1984a, 1987; Rehak 2004, 85-100.
64 Rehak 2002, 47.
65 Marinatos 1987, 123.
66 Marinatos 1987, 123; Rehak 1995, 104-105.
67 Marinatos 1987, 123.
68 Marinatos 1987, 125-127.
69 Ferrence and Bendersky 2004, 212.
70 Marinatos 1984a, 46; Wachsmann 1998, 86.
71 Young Forsyth 1997, 79.
72 Chirassi 1968, 125.
73 Betts 1973, 334; Wachsmann 1998, 118.
74 Evans 1928, 469; Day 2011b, 358.
75 Rehak 2004, 95.
76 Day 2011a, 381.
77 A short history of the Cooperative and its work
can be found on the ofcial website for
Krocus
Kozanis Products
(2014, http://www.krocuskozanis.
com/).
78 A brief overview of the benecial properties
of saffron can be found on the ofcial website for
Krocus Kozanis Products
(2014, http://www.kro-
cuskozanis.com/).
79 Abdullaev 2004, 433; Akhondzadeh et al. 2010,
582.
53
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