th
temperate zone. _C. foetida_, bugbane, is used as a preventive against
vermin; and the root of a North American species, _C. racemosa_, known
as black snake-root, as an emetic.

CIMMERII, an ancient people of the far north or west of Europe, first
spoken of by Homer (_Odyssey_, xi. 12-19), who describes them as living
in perpetual darkness. Herodotus (iv. 11-13), in his account of Scythia,
regards them as the early inhabitants of South Russia (after whom the
Bosporus Cimmerius [q.v.] and other places were named), driven by the
Scyths along by the Caucasus into Asia Minor, where they maintained
themselves for a century. But the Cimmerii are often mentioned in
connexion with the Thracian Treres who made their raids across the
Hellespont, and it is quite possible that some Cimmerii took this route,
having been cut off by the Scyths as the Alani (q.v.) were by the Huns.
Certain it is that in the middle of the 7th century B.C., Asia Minor was
ravaged by northern nomads (Herod, iv. 12), one body of whom is called
in Assyrian sources _Gimirrai_ and is represented as coming through the
Caucasus. They were probably Iranian speakers, to judge by the few
proper names preserved. The name has also been identified with the
biblical Gomer, son of Japheth (Gen. x. 2, 3). To the north of the
Euxine their main body was merged in the invading Scyths. Later writers
identified them with the Cimbri of Jutland, who were probably Teutonized
Celts, but this is a mere guess due to the similarity of name. The
Homeric Cimmerii belong to an early part of the _Odyssey_ in which the
hero was conceived as wandering in the Euxine; these adventures were
afterwards translated to the western Mediterranean in accordance with a
wider geographical outlook.

For the Cimmerian invasions described by Herodotus, see SCYTHIA;
LYDIA; GYGES. (E. H. M.)

CIMON [[Greek: Kimon]] (_c_. 507-449), Athenian statesman and general,
was the son of Miltiades (q.v.) and Hegesipyle, daughter of the Thracian
prince Olorus. Miltiades died in disgrace, leaving unpaid the fine
imposed upon him for his conduct at Paros. Cimon's first task in life,
therefore, was to remove the stain on the family name by paying this
fine (about L12,000). In the second Persian invasion, especially at
Salamis, and in the consolidation of the Delian League, he won a high
reputation for courage and integrity. At first with Aristides, and
afterwards as sole commander, he directed