154 i Flora Unveiled
of the Ayia Triadha fresco (see Figure 6.5), the season is indeterminate, existing outside of
time in the realm of the divine.
Although less conspicuous than the plants, animals— for example, birds, insects, and
cats— are also attributes of the goddess. However, the goddess of Xeste 3 may not represent
a generalized goddess of nature or of vegetation as is often assumed. According to Ferrence
and Bendersky, the seated deity may represent a goddess of healing. This conclusion is based
on the following three criteria:
(1) the unusual degree of visual attention given to the crocus, including the variety of
methods for display of the stigmas; (2) the painted depiction of the line of saffron pro-
duction from plucking blooms to the collection of stigmas; and (3) the sheer number
(ninety) of medical indications for which saffron has been used from the Bronze Age
to the present. ^32Of the ninety medical uses of saffron that have been recorded, 14% of them are gyne-
cological, and one of these uses (as an analgesic for menstrual pain) has been confirmed in
clinical trials and is still in use on the islands.^33 Although most of saffron’s medicinal uses
were recorded after the Bronze Age, it seems likely, given the prominence of crocus flowers
in their art, that the Minoans were aware of some of them. Moreover, the minor role of men
in the Xeste 3 frescoes is consistent with the rituals’ being focused on women’s health and
healing, or women as healers.^34
The so- called Adyton fresco at Akrotiri provides further support for the general theme
of women’s health (Figure 6.12). It was located on the ground floor immediately below the
Crocus Gatherers room and directly above the “adyton” or “holy of holies”— the Greek
term for a restricted area within a temple, often housing a statue of a deity, which was acces-
sible only to priests and priestesses.^35 The Adyton fresco probably illustrates a well- known
story about a young woman who steps on a thorn while gathering crocus flowers. She sits
on a rocky outcrop nearly identical to the one in the Crocus Gatherers fresco in the level
Figure 6.12 Sketch of the Adyton fresco on the south wall of room 3 on the ground floor of Xeste
3, Akrotiri. The delineation of different ages of the girls and women in the fresco based on body
form, hair, and dress is consistent with an interpretation based on a female rite of passage. It is
probably significant that the wounded figure is located directly below the seated goddess shown in
Figure 6.11.
From Marinatos, N. (1984), Art and Religion in Thera: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Society. Athens.