Ancient societies from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica, Greece to Egypt, Rome to China cultivated drugs for rituals and personal use. Many of these substances, such as various alcoholic beverages, cannabis and opium remain in use for many of the same purposes. Others, such as wormwood, blue lilies and saffron are much less common today. In some cases, how these substances were grown, cultivated and processed has remained largely unchanged in others, however, the uses and processes may surprise us. Some ancient drugs remain mysterious or even extinct, as you'll discover here.
SAFFRON
On the island of Santorini, the saffron crocus (crocus sativus) was cultivated (pictured in a fresco from Akrotiri), not only for the modern spice saffron produced from its stigma and styles, but also for its health benefits and mood enhancing properties. From Minos on Crete we have another fresco of saffron crocuses being harvested by girls and trained monkeys, and another fresco shows saffron being used to treat a bleeding foot. It was reputed to be a cure for 90 different ailments and its importance may be suggested by the etymology of the hero Crocus who embarked on a perilous journey to harvest the flower, his blood said to have been turned into the saffron flower by the gods. Another version is that the passion of his love for the nymph Smilax is reflected in the colour of the stigma. The flowers contain alkaloids and other compounds that might suggest its uses. It was utilised
