Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/642

 624 CIMMERII. took Sardis, all bat the citadel, daring the reign of Ardys. His grandson Alyattes was powerfol enough finally to deliver Asia from their presence. (Herod, i. 6, 15, 103, iy. 12.) It is said tbat they, along with the Treres and other Thracian tribes, who are so described as to make it doubtful whether they were distinct nations, or branches of the same race, had desolated Asia Minor before the time of Ardys, and CTen earlier than that of Homer. (Strab. i. pp. 6, 59, 61.) The fragments preserved of the most an- cient elegiac poetry vividly express the feelings with which the lonians, and Ephesos in particakr, saw these barbarous tribes who had taken Sardis, en- camped with their waggons on the banks of the Gayster, when the Ephesian poet Callinos earnestly implored Zeus to save his native land from this ferocious horde. (Caltin. Fragm, 2, 3, ed. Bergk; Strab. xiii. p. 627, xiv. pp. 633 — 647 ; comp. More, Hist of the Language astd Literature of Greece^ vol. ilL p. 132 ; Mailer, Eitt. of the Literature of Greece, c. x. § 4; Grote, Greece, vol. iii. pp. 313, 331, foil. Niebuhr {Klein SchrifU vol L p. 361) conjectured that the Cinmierians passed through Thrace, as they make their first appearance in Ionia and Lydia. The road by the Enxine, which the narrative in Herodotus presapposes, is almost entirely impassable for a Nomadic people, as the Caucasus extends to the very shores o^ the Euxine. The pursuit of the Cimmerians by the Scythians is an imaginary addition. All that can be stated with any certainty of this race is that they seem to have been the chief occupants of the Tauric Cher- sonesus {CrimM). On this peninsula there was formerly a Cimmerian city, adjoining to which were fortifications, enclosing the isthmus by an earthen wall. (Strab. /. c.) As vestiges of the Cimmerians still remaining in his time, Herodotus (iV 12} mentions the tombs of the Cimmerian kings near the Tyras (^Dnietter) and several places in the Scythian countiy. The Cim- merian walls — the Cimmerian ferry (irop(>/ii)Mi), and the territory itself was called Cimmerian. The names of the kings of the Bosporus corre- spond with Thracian names ; and this fact, in con- nection with the circumstance that there was a Thracian tribe termed Treres, connected with the Cimmerians, has been adduced to prove that the Cimmerians were Thracians, who are supposed to have been related to the PeUsgi and Greeks. (Ade- lung, MUhrid, vol. ii. p. 353.) if the Tauri could be identified with the Cimmerians, this argmnent woald have great weight, but they may have been later inhabitants. On the other hand, if the Cau- casus was within the district of the Cimmerians, it may be inferred that the aborigines of that mountain chain, whose descendants yet retiun their language and barbarous habits, are the representatives ^ the ancient Cimmerians, who may then be set down as a people distinct from the TLracians, and fhm the German or other Indo-European inhabitants of the north. Posidonius appears first to have conjectured that the Cimbri were the same people as the Cimmerii. His opinion, which was thought to be probable by Strabo (vii. p. 293), was adopted by the Romans (Pint. Mar. II); and this fanciful identity has been laid down in several modern works. There can be little doubt but that this notion rested on no oUier foimdation than the resemblance, perhaps ac- cidental, of two general names, and the geographical error of the ancients, who believed the coast of the CIMOLUS. Cunbri to be continuoos with that which the Cim^ meriana were supposed to inhabit. (Prichard, Fhj^ eical Hist, of Mankind, voL iii. p. 100.) Like their successon, the Scythians, tiie Cim- merii were a nomade race, "milkers of mans** (Callim. Hymn, ad Dion. 252), who moved aboat with thdr tents and herds over the grassy steppes of their territory. (Comp. Ukert, Sk^hien, p. 360 ; Niebuhr, Led. on Ane. Hist. vol. L p. 154 ; Baytf, de Ctnifnmi«,iloadiVtropo/.vol.iLp.4l9.) [E.B.J.] CIMME'BIUM (Ki^pior, Ptol. iii. 6. § 4; Ki#c^ jufplt, Scymn. Frt^. cxlviii; Ktf*fi9piK6p, Stnh. zL p. 494; CimnMirium, Pomp. Mela, i. 19. § 15), a town of the Cimmerian Bosporus which Pliny says was situated ^ ultimo in ostio," and was formeiiy called CsRBEBiON (vL 6). Clarke {Trav. vol iL p. 67) identifies it with Temruk ; Forbtger (voL iii. p. 1128) with Eshhrimm, [£. B. J.} CIMO'LIS. [CiwoLia.] CIMO^LUS (J&iiJMKos), a small island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, lying between Siphnos and Melos, and separated from the latter by a narrow strait only half a mile in breadth. The extreme length of the island is 5 miles, and its breadth 3^ miles. Pliny relates (iv. 12. s. 23) that Cimolus was also called Echinusa, a name wluch is not derived from Echidna, viper, as most modem writers have supposed, but from Echinos, t^e ces- urchin, of which there are several fossil specimeos <mi the west coast, and which are not found in any other of the Cyclades or Sporades, except on the opposite coast of Melos. Cimolus is not mentioned in political history, and appears to have followed the fate of &e neighbouring island of Melos; bat it was celchrated in antiquity on account of its earth or chalk (^ Kt- fuHjsMi y^, Cimolia Greta), which was nsed by fnllen in washing clothes. This chalk was also employed in medidne. (Strab. x. p. 484; Eustath. adlHoifB. 530; SchoL ad Aristoph. Ran. 713; Plin. iv. 12. a. 23, XXXV. 17. s. 57; Cels. ii. 33.) This Cimolian earth is described by Toumefort as a white chalk, very heavy, without any taste, and which melts away when it is put into water. The island is co- vered with this white chalk, whence Ovid {MeL vii. 463) speaks of " cretosa mra Cimoli." The figs of Cimolus were celebrated by the comic poet Amphis (Athen. L p. 306); and though the 8<nl Is barren, figs are still produced in the vallies. Another writer (quoted by Athenaeus, iii. p. 123, d) speaks of certain caves of the island, in which water being phuxd became as cold as snow, though warm before. Cimolus contained 1200 inhalntants when it was visited by Ross in 1843. The modem town is in the SE. of the island, about a quarter of an hour from the harbour, which is both small and iiisecare. In the middle of the west coast there is a Ptdeoba^' tron, situated npon a steep rock aboat 1000 feet in height; but it appears only to have been built as a place of refnge to be nsed in times of danger. The ancient town was situated at ZkukaUd, also called SL Andrew, on the S. coast, opposite Mdos. Iku- halib, or Si. Andrew, is the name given to a rock, distant at present about 200 paces from the island, to which, however, it was originally united. The whole rock is covered with the remains of houses, among which Ross noticed a draped female figure of white marble, of good workmanship, bat without head and hands. As long as the rode was united to the island by an isthmus, there was a good, though small harbour, on the eastern side of the rock. Around this harbour was the borial^place of the town; and