Cercetae

• a people of Pontus, Plin. 6, 5, 5, § 16; Mel. 1, 2, 5 al.

CE´RCETAE (Κερκεται, Strab. &c.; Κερκέτιοι, Dion. Perieg. 682; Κερκεταῖοι, Hellanic. fr. 91), one of the peoples of Sarmatia Asiatica, who occupied the NE. shore of the Euxine, between the Cimmerian Bosporus and the frontier of Colchis, but whose relative positions are not very exactly determined: their coast abounded in roadsteads and villages. (Hellanic. l. c.; Strab. xi. pp. 496, 497 ; Ptol. 5.9.25; Steph. B. s. v.; Mela, 1.19.4; Plin. Nat. 6.5.) Their name is now applied to the whole western district of the Caucasus, in the well known forms of Cherkas for the people, and Cherkaskaia, or Circassia, for the country.