Cimmerii
(
Κιμμέριοι). The name of a mythical and of a historical
people. The mythical Cimmerii, mentioned by Homer, dwelt in the farthest West on the ocean,
enveloped in constant mists and darkness. Later writers sought to localize them, and
accordingly placed them either in Italy, near the lake Avernus, or in Spain, or in the Tauric
Chersonesus. The historical Cimmerii dwelt on the Palus Maeotis (Sea of
Azov), in the Tauric Chersonesus, and in Asiatic Sarmatia. Driven from their abodes by the
Scythians, they passed into Asia Minor on the northeast, and penetrated west as far as Aeolis
and Ionia. They took Sardis, B.C. 635, in the reign of Ardys, king of Lydia; but they were
expelled from Asia by Alyattes, the grandson of Ardys, about B.C. 600.