Home›Open Questions›Where and when was saffron (Crocus sativus) originally domesticated?Open QuestionsWhere and when was saffron (Crocus sativus) originally domesticated?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Where and when was saffron (Crocus sativus) originally domesticated?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/where-and-when-was-saffron-domesticated.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Where and when was saffron (Crocus sativus) originally domesticated?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/where-and-when-was-saffron-domesticatedCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-where-and-when-was-saffron-crocus-sativu, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Where and when was saffron (Crocus sativus) originally domesticated?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/where-and-when-was-saffron-domesticated}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionRecent genetic and iconographic evidence (Kazemi-Shahandashti et al. 2022) points to Bronze Age Greece, Crete and Santorini around 1700 BCE, anchored on Minoan fresco depictions and Crocus cartwrightianus genetics. Older scholarship long assumed an Iranian or Asia Minor origin instead, given saffron's overwhelming later importance in Persian culture and its trade-route common names; this atlas's own origin-region fact already records the question as debated among authorities, and the 2022 genetic study does not by itself settle a century-old debate.What would resolve this Further ancient-DNA or archaeobotanical sampling of Crocus material from Aegean, Anatolian and Iranian Bronze Age sites, and confirmation of whether Crocus cartwrightianus populations outside Attica also carry the ancestral genome the 2022 study used to anchor the Greek-origin claim.OpenSeyyedeh-Sanam Kazemi-Shahandashti et al., Ancient Artworks and Crocus Genetics Both Support Saffron's Origin in Early GreeceCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnSaffron, Plants Well-attested Source Ancient Artworks and Crocus Genetics Both Support Saffron's Origin in Early GreeceSeyyedeh-Sanam Kazemi-Shahandashti et al.tier 2SourcesAncient Artworks and Crocus Genetics Both Support Saffron's Origin in Early Greecetier 2Seyyedeh-Sanam Kazemi-Shahandashti et al., Frontiers in Plant Science, 2022Frontiers in Plant Science, 25 Feb 2022, doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.834416View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year