Cremna or Kremna (), was an ancient town in

Pisidia Pisidia (; , ; ) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey. Among Pisidia's set ...

. It is situated in the district of Bucak. It stands in a remote valley on a high plateau dominating the ancient Cestrus River (today Aksu), with limited access and good defensive features. It was first taken by Amyntas, commander of the

Galatia Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

n auxiliary army of

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

and Cassius, who became king of Galatia and Pisidia on going over to the side of

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

Octavian Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

allowed him to remain king until his death in 25 BC. After this, it became a

Roman colony A Roman (: ) was originally a settlement of Roman citizens, establishing a Roman outpost in federated or conquered territory, for the purpose of securing it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It ...

, as

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

says; and there are imperial coins with the epigraph COL. IVL. AVG. CREMNA, which stands for ''Colonia Iulia Augusta elixCremnena''. Its first coins appear to have been minted under

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

mentions the ''Cremna Colonia'', and according to him it is in the same longitude as Sagalassus. Its water supply posed particular problems and the aqueduct had to include complex and novel solutions. The ''donatio'' given by the emperor

Aurelian Aurelian (; ; 9 September ) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 AD during the Crisis of the Third Century. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disinte ...

(270–275) promised a period of great prosperity for Cremna; but in 276, the town was taken by an

Isauria Isauria ( or ; ), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated district in the interior of Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya P ...

n robber, named Lydius, who used it as a base for looting the region, giving rise to the only visit of a Roman Emperor to the region, that of Marcus Claudius Tacitus. Later, the town was inserted in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Pamphylia Secunda Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was the ...

. The name of only one of its bishops is known: Theodorus, present at the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...

in 787. No longer a residential bishopric, Cremna is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 876 At some time in the high Middle Ages, the ancient site of the town was abandoned, the population transferring itself to the present village of Çamlık. The ancient site was identified in 1874 and excavations began in 1970.

References

* Smith, William (editor); ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' is the last in a series of classical dictionaries edited by the English scholar William Smith (1813–1893), following '' A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' and the '' Dictionary of G ...

''
"Cremna"

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, (1854) * Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister (editors);
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites
'
"Kremna"

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, (1976) * Mitchell, Stephen, with Sarah Cormack, Robin Fursdon, Eddie Owens and Jean Öztürk, ''Cremna in Pisidia. An Ancient City in Peace and in War'' (Duckworth Press, London, 1995)

Notes

Gallery

File:KremnaAntikKenti2.jpg File:KremnaAntikKenti3.jpg File:KremnaAntikKenti1.jpg File:KremnaAntikKenti4.jpg {{Authority control Populated places in Pisidia Archaeological sites in the Mediterranean region, Turkey Former populated places in Turkey History of Burdur Province Catholic titular sees in Asia Roman towns and cities in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Coloniae (Roman) Bucak District