Cremna (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Κρῆμνα), or Kremna, was an ancient town in Pisidia. 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 Galatian auxiliary army of Brutus 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 politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the ...

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

Roman colony A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term '' colony''. Characte ...

, as Strabo 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 (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman '' municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispan ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

mentions the ''Cremna Colonia'', and according to him it is in the same longitude as

Sagalassus Sagalassos ( el, Σαγαλασσός), also known as Selgessos ( el, Σελγησσός) and Sagallesos ( el, Σαγαλλησός), is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia) and 30& ...

. Its water supply posed particular problems and the aqueduct had to include complex and novel solutions. The ''donatio'' given by the emperor

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

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

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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 largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as a titular see.''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''
"Cremna"

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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