Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/724

 706 CBIMISA. t J 25, seq.) The exact site of Creuas is nncertain, i at there can be no doubt that it most be placed I xnXh Leake somewhere in the bay of LUnxdhottra, (Leake, Northern Greece^ vol. ii. pp. 406, 505.) CRIMISA or GRIMISSA (Kp^ii^ro, Steph. B. 9.v. Lycophr. Alex.^Z Kpifxurffo, Strab. vi. p. 254), a promontory on the E. coast of Brattimn, in the territory of Crotona ; on which, according to a jreceived tradition of the Greeks, Philoctetes founded a small city. This settlement is distinctly connected by Strabo with that of Chone in the same neighbour- hood: both were in all probability Oenotrian towns, and not Greek colonies at all : Strabo calls it " the ancient Crimissa," and it appears from his expres- sions that it was no longer in existence in his time. Lycophron also terms it a small town (/3paxi^oX» KplfuaUf ^c), and there is no trace of it found in history. The promontoxy of Crimissa may probably be identified with that now called Capo ddT Alice, about 22 miles N. of Crotona : the town of Cird, about 5 miles inland, is supposed by local wiiters to occupy the site ^ the city of Philoctetes, but this is mere conjecture. (Barr, de Sit. Calabr. iv. 23 ; JEiomanelli, vol. i. p. 213.) Stephanus of Byzantium mentions a river of the same name, which is sup- posed by the authorities just cited to be the stream called Fiumenioa, about 10 miles W. of the Capo ddt AUcBj but it seems very probable that Stephanus meant the more celebrated river Crimissus in Sicily. <Cluver. SicU. p. 267.) [E. H. B.] CRIMISUS, or CRIMISSUS (Kpttiur6s, Lyco^., Dion. Hal. ; Kpifiri(r6sy Plut. ; Kpi/a<ra-({s, Ael), a river of Sicily, in the neighbourhood of Segesta, celebrated for the great battle fought on its banks in b.c. 339, in whic£ Timoleon, wiUi only about 1 1 ,000 troops, partly Syracosans, partly mercenaries, totally de- feated a Carthaginian army of above 70,000 men. This victory was one of the greatest blows ever sustained by the Carthaginian power, and secured to the Greek cities in Sicily a long period of tran- quillity. (Plut. Timol 25—29 ; Diod. xvL 77— 81 ; Com. Nep. Tim. 2.) But though the battle itself is described in considerable detail both by Plutarch and Diodorus, they aSatd scarcely any information concerning its locality, except that it was fought in the part of the island at that time subject to Carthage (^v t^ r&y Kapxil^oyiwv hri- Kpareitf). Tlie river Crimisus itself is described as a considerable stream, which being flooded at the time by storms of nun, contributed much to cause confusion in the Carthaginian army. Tet its name is not found in any of the ancient geographa:^, and the only clue to its position is afibrded by the fables which connect it with the city of Segesta. According to the legend received among the Greeks, Aegestes or Aegestus (the Acestes of Virgil), the founder and eponymous hero of Egesta, was the son of a Trojan woman by the river-god Crimisus, who cohabited with her under the fonn of a dog. (Lycophr. 961 ; Tzetz. ad loc.; Virg. Am. v. 38; and Serv. ad Aen, i. 550.) For this reason the river Crimisus continued to be worahipped by the Segestans, and its effigy as a dog was placed on their coins (AeL V. ir. ii. 33 ; Eckhel, vol. i. p. 234) : Dionysius also distinctly speaks of the Trojans tmder Elymus and Aegestus as settling in the territory of the Sicani, about the river Ciimistis (i. 52); hence it seems certain that we must look for that river in the neighbourhood, or at least within the territory of Segesta, and it is probable that Fazello wa» correct in identifying it with the stream now called CRISSA. Fitane di S. Bartohnuneo or Fiume Freddo, whidi flows about 5 miles E. of Segesta, and iaUs into the Guff of CattellanuMre at a short distance from the town of that name. Cluverius supposed it to be the stream which flows by the ruins of EnteUa, and frUs into the Hypsas or BelicL, thus flowing to the & coast: but the arguments which he derives from the account of the operations of Timoleon are not sufficient to outweigh those which connect the Cri- misus with Segesta. (FazelL de Beb. Sie. viL p. 299 ; Cluver. Sicil p. 269.) [E. H. B.] CRISSA or CRISA (KpUraa, Kpara-. Eth, Kpur^ o^oTof), and CIRRHA (Ki^: Eth, Kippeuo$ in Phocis. There has been considerable diacnsaioo whether these two names denoted the same place or two different places. That there was a town of the name of Cirrha on the coast, which served as the harbour of Delphi, admits of no dispute. (Pblyb. V. 27 ; Liv. xliL 15.) Pausanias (x. 37. § 5) snp- poses this Cirrha to be a later name of the Homeric CriaMt; and his authority has been foUowed by K. Q. Mtiller, Dissen, Wachsmuth, K. F. Hermann, and most of the German scholars. Strabo (ix. p. 418), on the other hand, distinguishes the two places; and hb statement has been adopted by Leake, Kras^ Mannert, Ulrichs, and Grote. The most oani|dete and satisfactory investigation of the subject has been made by Ulrichs, who carefully examined the topography of the district; and since the pnblica* tion of his work, it has be^ generally admitted that Crissa and Cirrha were two separate places. The arguments in favour of this ofnnion will be beet stated by narrating the history df the plaees. Crissa was more andoit than Cirrha. It was situated inland a little SW. of Delphi, at the southern end of a projecting spur of Mt. Paraassna. Its ruins may still be seen at a short distance from the modem village of ChryiOy surronndixig the church of the Forty Saints. They consist of very ancient polygonal walls, still as high as 10 ieet in some parts, and as broad as 1 8 feeton the northern side, and 12 on the western. The ancient town of Crissa gave its name to the bay above which it stood; and the name was ext^ded from this bay to the whole of the Corinthian gulf, which was called Crissaean in the most ancient times. (See above, p. 673.) Cirrha iras built subsequently at the head of the bay, and rose into a town from being the port of Crissa. This is in accordance with what we find i& the history of other Grecian states. The original town is built upon a height at some distance firam the sea, to secure it against hostile attacks, especially bj sea ; but in course of time, when property has be- come more secure, and the town itsdf has grown in power, a second place springs up on that part of the coast which had served previously as the port of the inland town. This was undoubtedly the origin of Cirrha, which was situated at the month of the river Plebtus (Pans. x. 8. § 8), and at the foot of Mount Cirphis (St»b. ix. p. 418). Its mina may be seen close to the sea, at the distance of aboat ten minutes from the Pleistus. They bear the name of Magula. The remains of walls, enclosing a ijna- drangular space about a mile in drcuit, may still be traced ; and both within and vrithout this space are the foundations of many large and small bnildings. Although Strabo was correct in distizigaiahing between Crissa and Cirrha, he makes a mistake re- specting the position of the former. Cirrha, as we have already seen, he rightly places on the coast at the foot of Mt Cbrphis ; but he enoneoosly supposes