Crocus (mythology)

Crocus was unhappy with his love affair with the nymph Smilax, and he was turned by the gods into a plant bearing his name, the crocus (saffron). Smilax is believed to have been given a similar fate and transformed into bindweed.Ovid, Metamorphoses [https://topostext.org/work/141#4.271 4.283]Nonnus, Dionysiaca [https://topostext.org/work/529#12.70 12.86]{{cite web| url=https://arthive.com/artists/422~Nicolas_Poussin/works/378271~Kingdom_Of_Flora |accessdate=2021-08-17|website=arthive.com |title=Kingdom Of Flora}}

In another variation of the myth, Crocus was said to be a companion of Hermes and was accidentally killed by the god in a game of discus when he unexpectedly stood up. As the unfortunate youth's blood dripped on the soil, the saffron flower came to be.Galenus, De Compositione Medicamentorum Secundum Locos [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0057.tlg076.1st1K-grc1:9.4/?q=&qk=form 9.4]Servius on Virgil's Georgics [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D4%3Acommline%3D182 4.182]{{sfn|Miller|Strauss Clay|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UviFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]}} The myth is similar to that of Apollo and Hyacinthus, and may indeed be a variation or modelled after it thereof.{{sfn|Miller|Strauss Clay|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UviFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]}}

In his translation of Nonnos' Dionysiaca, W.H.D. Rouse describes the tale of Crocus as being from the late Classical period and little-known.In: Nonnos, Dionysiaca. With an English translation by W. H. D. Rouse. Volume I, books I - XV. Cambridge - Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1940, p. 404

• Clytie
• Hyacinthus, another youth killed in a discus accident and turned into a flower
• Smilax, Crocus' lover turned into a shrub

{{reflist}}

• Grimal, Pierre. A Concise Dictionary of Classical mythology. Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1990. - p. 109
• {{cite book | last1 = Miller | last2 = Strauss Clay | first1 = John F. | first2 = Jenny | title = Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2019 | isbn = 978-0-19-877734-2 | location = Oxford | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UviFDwAAQBAJ}}
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band XI, Halbband 22, Komogrammateus-Kynegoi (1922) - ss. 1972-1973

• [https://www.theoi.com/Flora1.html FLOWER MYTHS from The Theoi Project]

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Category:Metamorphoses characters

Category:Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology

Category:Deeds of Hermes

Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology

Category:Greek literature (post-classical)