CRIMISA
CRIMISA or
CRIMISSA (
Κρίμισα,
Steph. B. sub voce Lycophr.
Alex. 913;
Κρίμισσα,
Strab. vi. p.254), a promontory on the E. coast of Bruttium, in the territory of Crotona; on which, according to a received tradition of the Greeks, Philoctetes founded a small city.
This settlement is distinctly connected by Strabo with that of Chone in the same neighbourhood: both were in all probability Oenotrian towns, and not Greek colonies at all: Strabo calls it “the ancient Crimissa,” and it appears from his expressions that it was no longer in existence in his time. Lycophron also terms it a small town (
Βραχύπτολις Κρίμισα, l.c.), and there is no trace of it found in history.
The promontory of Crimissa may probably be identified with that now called
Capo dell' Alice, about 22 miles N. of Crotona: the town of
Cirò, about 5 miles inland, is supposed by local writers to occupy the site of the city of Philoctetes, but this is mere conjecture. (Barr,
de Sit. Calabr. 4.23; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 213.) Stephanus of Byzantium mentions a river of the same name, which is supposed by the authorities just cited to be the stream called
Fiumenicà, about 10 miles W. of the
Capo dell' Alice, but it seems very probable that Stephanus meant the more celebrated river Crimissus in Sicily. (Cluver.
Sicil. p. 267.)
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E.H.B]
