a nomad people of antiquity who dwelt near the Palus Maeotis, in the Tauric Chersonese, and in Asiatic Sarmatia. They are said to have desolated Asia Minor prior to the time of Homer; and in their second invasion they penetrated as far westward as Eolis and Ionia, captured Sardis the capital of Lydia B.C. 635, in the reign of Ardys, and continued in possession till they were driven out of Asia by Alyattes, the grandson of that sovereign. (Herod. i. iv.; Strab. i.)

This was also the name of a mythical people, represented by Homer as inhabiting a remote region of mist and darkness; but they are localized by later writers near Lake Avernus, and also in the Tauric Chersonesus, and in Spain. Their country was fabled to be so gloomy, that, to indicate great obscurity, the expression "Cimmerian darkness" became proverbial; and Homer, according to Plutarch, drew his images of hell and Pluto from the gloomy and dismal region inhabited by the Cimmerii.