Pontus

Pontus, the name given by the ancient Greeks to a country in the north-east of Asia Minor, bordering on the Pontus Euxinus (whence its name), and extending from the river Halys in the west to the frontiers of Colchis and Armenia in the east. Its southern limits were the ranges of Anti-Taurus and Paryadres, so that it corresponded pretty nearly to the modern pashaliks of Trebizond and Sivas. The name seems to have come into use after the time of Alexander the Great. Previous to that Pontus was governed by a satrap for the empire of Persia. One of these satraps, Ariobarzanes, early in the 4th century B.C., laid the foundations of an independent sovereignty. He was succeeded by a line of princes mostly called Mithridates, the greatest of whom was Mithridates VI. (q.v.), one of the most formidable enemies that Rome ever encountered in the east. On the overthrow of this potentate by Pompey (65 B.C.), Pontus was annexed to Bithynia. Subsequently, a Greek named Polemon was installed (36 B.C.) monarch of part of Pontus; but in the reign of Nero this too became (63 A.D.) a Roman province, and was called Pontus Polemoniacus. The principal towns of ancient Pontus were Amisus, Sinope, Cotyora, Cerasus, and Trapezus on the coast, and Amasia (the capital), Comana, and Cabira (Neocæsarea) inland.