Cimmerii
or CIMMERIANS, an ancient nomadic race, inhabiting the Crimea, and parts of the neighboring country, having been expelled by the Scythians , passed along the shores of the Euxine, invaded Asia Minor, and pillaged Sardis, the capital of Lydia, 635 B. C. In that country they were said to have remained until about 617 в. c., when CINCHONA BARK they were defeated and driven out of Asia Minor. Homer refers to another people of the same name, fabled to have dwelt in a land of perpetual darkness.
Hence the term "Cimmerian gloom."