In the 1560's the first corms (bulb-like entities) were brought to the Netherlands by Ogier Ghiselim de Busbecq, their ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire. Historians know that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor was it Roman.
There is a Greek legend that tells of a young shepherd named Krokos (Crocus) who had a sweet and noble spirit. In time Krokos fell deeply in love with a beautiful nymph named Smilax.
The Greek gods were impressed with Krokos' true and deep devotion to Smilax and granted him immortality and turned him into a lovely yellow flower. So the two could remain together Smilax was turned into a yew, an evergreen. We may wonder if this is what the two love birds would have wished for had they had their choice in the matter.
Reading The Iliad of Homer one will encounter the word krokos. There is no letter "c" in Greek nor in German. The letter"k" does the job of the hard "c." In The Iliad of Homer the word krokos refers to the spice-giving saffron crocus (see saffron discussed later).
The Hittites (we have read of these in the Bible), on the Anatolian plateau about 2,000 B.C. (the time of Abraham), celebrated a spring festival. During the festivals crocus corms played an important part.
In Turkey, on May 6, a spring festival called Hidveliez is held.
The crocus has decorated ancient wall frescoes, cult objects and vessels since the Minoan times.
There are spring crocuses, summer crocuses and autumn crocuses. Many autumn crocuses contain colchicine, a deadly drug that is used for the treatment of gout. See: autumn crocus later.
The crocus has indicated to mankind for millennium that spring is on the way.