146 i Flora Unveiled
took place, spewing enormous amounts of ash throughout the southern Aegean. Ancient
Akrotiri was buried in ash, and, like Pompeii, it was thereby preserved nearly intact for
future generations.
As early as 1939, archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos had speculated that something inter-
esting was buried at the site, but he was prevented from excavating it until 1967 because of
the outbreak of World War II and the Greek Civil War. Once the ash from the volcano
was removed, Marinatos and his successors discovered part of a large town, complete with
multistory buildings, streets, squares, and walls. The presence of a loom workshop showed
that it was a center for the production and export of textiles. Mills and huge ceramic jars
(pithoi), used primarily for storing grain and olive oil, were also found. Most spectacular of
all are the many beautiful polychrome frescoes, some of which illustrate people and animals
in natural settings, with others depicting ritual or mythological themes.
The Saffron Crocus Gatherers fresco (Figure 6.6A) can be identified as a ritual scene on
the basis of two criteria. First, the stigmas of the flowers, which were used to make saffron,^22
are destined to be presented to a goddess or priestess. Second, the women’s attire is similar
to the ritual robes of the flower gatherers in the fresco from Ayia Triada, which also includes
a goddess or priestess (see Figure 6.5). Such elaborate costumes take on the aura of religious
vestments. The rugged terrain in the fresco suggests that the species the maidens are collect-
ing is wild crocus, Crocus cartwrightianus, which typically grows on rocky hillsides up to
1,000 meters in altitude. A drawing of C. cartwrightianus is shown in Figure 6.6B.^23 Note
that the single stigma is divided into three long branches.
The saffron crocus Crocus cartwrightianus, a member of the iris family, produces a bulb-
like underground storage stem called a corm and blooms from October to December.^24
From this, we can identify the season depicted in the Crocus- Gathering fresco as autumn
or early winter.
It is worth noting that the modern cultivated species of the saffron crocus, Crocus
sativum, is a sterile triploid mutant (having three sets of chromosomes instead of two)
that can only be propagated asexually. It is thought to be derived from the wild Crocus
cartwrightianus of Crete. Presumably, growers initially selected for plants with elon-
gated stigmas to increase the yield of saffron, which led to the selection of the trip-
loid mutant plant. When this artificial selection took place has yet to be determined.
However, based on the frequency of white (albino) crocus flowers in Minoan art, plant
systematist Brian Mathew has speculated that the Minoan women of the Thera frescoes
Figure 6.5 Fresco from Ayia Triada, showing kneeling goddess and her attendant gathering
flowers. Reconstructed by M. Cameron.
From N. Marinatos (1993), Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol. University of South Carolina Press
( figure 121).