Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/719

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

CBEMNA. Iz. 15, 18—22; Diod. zi. 53; Ovid. FoMt, ii. 193 —242; F]or.Ll2; GeU. zrii. 21. § 18.) Ao- oording to Iawj (vi. 1) this disaster oocnznd on the same day of the jear (the 16th of July), which was aftenrards maiiced by the still more cajiunitoos de- feat on the Allia. No other mention of it occars in histoiy, nor is its name fbond in any of the geo- graphers: it is evident, thexefore, that it was bnt an inconsiderable stream. Clnverins was the first to identify it with a small river called the Fofto di Vedea or Varooy which has its source in the crater- formed basin of BaeoanOj flows by the site of the ancient Veiif and falls into the Tiber immediately opposite to Cattd GkAileo (the site of Fidenae), aiwat 6 miles from Rome. (Glaver. ItaL p. 536.) Bat though the antbority of Clnverins has been fol- lowed on this point (apparently withont investigation) by aU snbseqaent topographers (Gell, Nibby, West- phal, &&), the azgnments which led him tofix npon this stream as thB Oremera are based npon his er- roneoos views as to the position of Veii; and the site of that dty being now fixed with certainty near /sofa Famete^ it is difficult to admit any longer that the Fottodi Valoa can be the ancient Gremera. Dionysius speaks of that river (ix. 15) as not far dutaU from the city of Veii — an expression which could hardly apply to a stream that flowed imme- diately below ito walls : and a still stronger objection is that the stieam in qnestion could scarcely be said to lie between the Veientes and Borne, so as to inters cept the forays of the former people. It is certain that the little brook now called Ac^ua TYaveriOf which crosses the Flaminian Way and fiills into the Tiber almost 3 miles nearer Borne, would cmrrespoid hr better with the position reqnisito for such a post as that of the Fabii: and though a very trifling stream, its banks as well as those of the Valoa, are in many places lofly and precipitous, and would affixrd an advantageous site for their fortress. Ovid indeed speaks of the Cremera as a Tident torrent {Cremeram rapacem), but adds that this was when it was swollen by winter rains. At any other time indeed such an expression would be equally inapplicable to both streams: the Fouo di Valoa being itself but a small and sluggish brook, though flowing through a deep valley with lofty banks. In the upper part of its course it is known as the FoiMo di FomysUo, The castle of the Fabii, to which both Livy and Dionysius give the name of Gremera, was evi- dently a mere fortified post which was destroyed by the Veientines: and it is idle to attempt its identificatiflii, as has been done by some Italian antiquaries. [£. H. B.] CBEMNA (^ Kp^/cra or Kf^fuw), a place in Pi- sidia, and, as its name imports, a sbn>ng post on an aminenoe. It was taken by the Galatian king Amyntas, a oontemporai7 of Strabo (p. 569). It became a Roman colony, as Strabo says; and there are imperial coins with the epigraph Col. Ivl. Ayo. Cremxa. The passage of Strabo about Cremna Bas cansed gnat difficulty. He says that Amyntas did not take Sandalium, which is situated between Cremna and SagaUssus. Strabo adds, '* Sagakssus is distant from Apameia a day's journey, having a descent of about 30 stadia from the fort {rov ip^ ftaros^f and they call it also Selgessus." Cramer (^Atia MimoTy vol. ii. p. 299) supposes Strabo to mean that '^ at the distance of 80 stadia fiiom Saga- laasus, in a northerly direction, was the important ftrtrsBS of Cremna;'* on which it may be useful to CBEMONA. 701 some readers to observe, that where a Greek text presents a difficulty, Cramer is often wrong in ex- plaining it But tiiere is no difficulty here. The French translation of Strabo makes a like mistake; and Groskurd the same, for he translates it " hat fost dreissig stadien hinabsteigung von jener veste," by which it appears that he means Cremna. Arun' dell (Jna Minor ^ vol. iL p. 81) properly remarks that, if there were only 30 stadia between Cremna and Sagalassus, ^ it is hardly conceivable that San- dalium should be between them." It is not con- ceivable at all; and Strabo's text, whatever fault there may be in it, clearly places Cremna at some distance firom Sagalassus, and " the fort " is not Cremna. But there is nothing in the passage of Stiabo from which we can detennine the distance between Sagalassus and Cremna, nor their relative position. Ptolemy (v. 5) mentions the Cremna Co- lonia, and according to him it is in the same longi- tude as Sagalassus. Arundell foxmd a place called Gtrmi fifteen miles SSE. of the villi^ of AVahtdn, which is near the ruins of Sagalassus. There is a view of Gormi in Arundell*s work. It is a striking position, ** a terrific precipice on three sides." The ruins are described by ArundelL There are the remains of a theatre, of temples, of a colonnade, and of what is supposed to be a triumphal arch. Most of the buildings seemed to be of the Roman period. There is a story in Zosimns (i. 69) of an Isaurian robber, named Lydius, who seized Cremna, a city of Lycia, as he calls it There is no doubt that he means the same place which Strabo does. [G. L.] CBEMNI (K^fiyoi), a town of European Sar- matia, W. of the promontory Agarum, and called by Herodotus (iv. 20, 110) a factory of the free Scythians on the W. of the Palus Maeotis. Man- nert (vol iv. p. 114; comp. Bitter, VorhaUe^ p. 156) places it in the neighbourhood of Taganrog, By otiiers it has been sought for at Stari-Krim near MariupoL (Beichardt, KUin. Geogr. Schrtft. p. 285; comp. Eichwald, AUe Geogr. d. Casp.MeeTf p. 309.) [E. B. J.] CREMNISCI (KfirifivlffKot^ Anon. Peripl Pont Ettz, p. 10; Cremniscos, Plin. iv. 26), a town on the Euxine, which Artemidcrus, the geqgxapher, pUoed at 480 stadia from the river Tyraa. For- biger (vol. iii. p. 1129) places it near the lake Bumuuahaf or near Istama. [£. B. J.] CBEMONA (Kptfuimn, Pol. et Stnb.; Kp4fjmiw, PtoL; Kptfuitfj App.: £<A.Creroonensis: Cremona), a dty of Cisalpine Gaul, situated on the left bank of the Padus, about 6 miles below the confiuenoe of the Addua. Both Pliny and Ptolemy reckon it among the cities of the Cenomani (PHn. iii. 19. s. 23 ; Ptol. iiL 1. § 31), but it would seem from the ex|»nession of Livy (odoniae deductae tn agro de Gaiiit eapio, Epit xx.) that it was originally included in tie territory of the Insubres. We have no accoxmt of its existence previous to the Roman conquest, but after the great Gaulish war in b. a 225, the Romans, bdng desirous to establish a firmer footing in this part of Italy, settled two colonies of 6000 men each at Cremona and Plaoentia, the one on the left and the other on the right bank of the Padus, B.O. 219. (Liv. Epit xx.; VeU. Pat i. 14; Pol. iii. 40 ; Tac HitL iii. 34.) The new colonies were, however, scarcely established when the news of the approach of Hannibal led the Boians and Insubrians to take up arms afiresh ; but though they ravaged the newly occupied lands, and even drove the settlers to take refuge at Mutina, it is certain