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CIMMERIUM

Volume 6 · 128 words · 1815 Edition

in Ancient Geography, a town at the mouth of the Palus Maeotis; from which the Bosporus Cimmerius is named; that strait which joins the Euxine and the Palus Maeotis. Cimmerii was the name of the people (Homer); and here stood the Promontorium Cimmerium (Ptolemy); and hence probably the modern appellation Crim.

in Ancient Geography, a place near Baiae, in Campania, where formerly stood the cave of the sibyl. The people were called Cimmerii, who living in subterraneous habitations, from which they issued in the night to commit robberies and other acts of violence, never saw the light of the sun (Homer). To give a natural account of this fable, Festus says, there was a valley surrounded with a pretty high ridge, which precluded the morning and evening sun.