Saffron slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania. Saffron was detailed in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical reference compiled under Ashurbanipal. Documentation of saffron's use over the span of 3,500 years has been uncovered. Saffron-based pigments have indeed been found in 50,000-year-old depictions of prehistoric places in northwest Iran. The Sumerians later used wild-growing saffron in their remedies and magical potions. Saffron was an article of long-distance trade before the Minoan palace culture's 2nd millennium BC peak. Ancient Persians cultivated Persian saffron ("Crocus sativus" 'Hausknechtii') in Derbent, Isfahan, and
Saffron which comes from the Latin word , from the Arabic "za'farān", which comes from the Persian word "zarparan" meaning "flower with golden petals". The domesticated saffron crocus, "Crocus sativus", is an autumn-flowering perennial plant unknown in the wild. It probably descends from the eastern Mediterranean autumn-flowering "Crocus cartwrightianus", which is also known as "wild saffron" and originated in Crete or mainland Greece. An origin in Southwest Asia, although often suspected, has been disapproved by botanical research. The saffron crocus probably resulted when "C. cartwrightianus" was subjected to extensive artificial selection by growers seeking longer stigmas. "C. thomasii" and "C. pallasii"