Minoan Thera Wallpainting Exhibition: Saffron Gatherer, 17th C. BCE

January 26, 2020

Minoan Thera Wallpainting Exhibition: Saffron Gatherer, 17th C. BCE

"Xeste 3,
Room 3a, first floor, North Wall
H: 2.17, W: 0.69

The ‘Saffron-Gatherers’ and the ‘Mistress of Animals’ constitute a series of wall-paintings that decorated room 3a on the first floor of Xeste 3.

On the east wall, two women, one younger than the other, are depicted in a field of crocuses. The older figure is gathering the stamens of flowers with her right hand, while holding a basket in her left. The younger figure, with the shaved blue head, is gathering the stamens with both hands. The difference in age and the manner in which the two figures engage each other visually implies a teacher-student relationship.

Scholars believe that either the Crocus Sativus or the Crocus Catwrightianus, are depicted in the wall-painting. The Crocus Sativus grows even today on the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, flowering for a few days at the end of the summer. Cultivated since antiquity, saffron, which is derived from the stamen of the crocus, has been used as a dye, a pharmaceutical product and a perfume for centuries.

Uses of saffron in Akrotiri are likely to have included, but were not limited to, the dyeing of robes. Saffron-coloured robes are found throughout the wall-paintings, mostly adorning women. In Classical Greece, crocus dye was a symbol of supremacy and wealth. Saffron-coloured clothing is often mentioned in ancient mythology, tragedies, and poetry."

-taken from therafoundation link below