greekgazetteer:Frescoes from Akrotiri (c. 1500bc)- Saffron pickers & offering saffron to a godde
greekgazetteer:Frescoes from Akrotiri (c. 1500bc)- Saffron pickers & offering saffron to a goddessSaffron is like the ancient equivalent to birth control. If you eat a lot of it you can force an abortion. If you don’t overdose on it it can actually help fight cancer with all the vitamins it has. These frescoes show women picking saffron and then giving it to a female deity (well the monkey is giving it to her, but they are offering it to her), so perhaps because of the specific female health related reactions this plant brings about, it was a female thing to go pick it? The top fresco shows examples of two different aged women (as depicted by hairstyle) which means that this is probably passed down through generations. Maybe as a rite as passage?Also note the gryphons by the goddess lady on the throne. That whole scene closely resembles that at Knossos (see post). We’re programmed to see a throne and think ‘throne = king/queen’, but perhaps these were thrones for gods/goddesses? -- source link
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