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PAPHLAGONIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 736 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAPHLAGONIA , an See also:

ancient See also:district of See also:Asia See also:Minor, situated on the Euxine See also:Sea between See also:Bithynia and See also:Pontus, separated from See also:Galatia by a prolongation to the See also:east of the Bithynian See also:Olympus. According to See also:Strabo, the See also:river See also:Parthenius formed the western limit of the region, which was bounded on the east by the Halys. Although the Paphlagonians See also:play scarcely any See also:part in See also:history, they were one of the most ancient nations of Asia Minor (Iliad, ii. 851). They are mentioned by See also:Herodotus among the races conquered by See also:Croesus, and they sent an important contingent to the See also:army of See also:Xerxes in 48o B.C. See also:Xenophon speaks of them as being governed by a See also:prince of their own, without any reference to the neighbouring satraps, a freedom due, perhaps, to the nature of the See also:country, with its lofty See also:mountain ranges and difficult passes. At a later See also:period Paphlagonia passed under the Macedonian See also:kings, and after the See also:death of See also:Alexander the See also:Great it was assigned, together with See also:Cappadocia and See also:Mysia to See also:Eumenes. It continued, however, to be governed by native princes until it was absorbed by the encroaching See also:power of Pontus. The rulers of that See also:dynasty became masters of the greater part of Paphlagonia as See also:early as the reign of See also:Mithradates III. (3o2-266 B.C.), but it was not till that of Pharnaces I. that See also:Sinope See also:fell into their hands (183 B.C.). From this See also:time the whole See also:province was incorporated with the See also:kingdom of Pontus until the fall of the great Mithradates (65 B.C.). See also:Pompey See also:united the See also:coast districts of Paphlagonia with the province of Bithynia, but See also:left the interior of the country under the native princes, until the dynasty became See also:extinct and the whole country was incorporated in the See also:Roman See also:empire.

All these rulers appear to have See also:

borne the name of PyIaemenes, as a token that they claimed descent from the chieftain of that name who figures in the Iliad as See also:leader of the Paphlagonians. Under the Roman Empire Paphlagonia, with the greater part of Pontus, was united into one province with Bithynia, as we find to have been the See also:case in the time of the younger See also:Pliny; but the name was still retained by geographers, though its boundaries are not distinctly defined by See also:Ptolemy. It reappears as a See also:separate province in the 5th See also:century (See also:Hierocles, Synecd. c. 33). The ethnic relations of the Paphlagonians are very uncertain. It seems perhaps most probable that they belonged to the same See also:race as the Cappadocians, who held the adjoining province of Pontus, and were undoubtedly a Semitic race. Their See also:language, however, would appear from Strabo to have been distinct. Equally obscure is the relation between the Paphlagonians and the Eneti or Heneti (mentioned in connexion with them in the Homeric See also:catalogue) who were supposed in antiquity to be the ancestors of the See also:Veneti, who dwelt at the See also:head of the Adriatic. but no trace is found in See also:historical times of any tribe of that name in Asia Minor. The greater part of Paphlagonia is a rugged mountainous country, but it contains fertile valleys, and produces great abundance of See also:fruit. The mountains are clothed with dense forests, which are conspicuous for the quantity of See also:boxwood which they furnish. Hence its coasts were from an early period occupied by See also:Greek colonies, among which the flourishing See also:city of Sinope, founded from See also:Miletus about 63o B.C., stood pre-eminent. Amastris, a few See also:miles east of the Parthenius, became important under the Macedonian monarchs; while Amisus, a See also:colony of Sinope, situated a See also:short distance east of the Halys, and therefore not strictly in Paphlagonia as defined by Strabo, See also:rose to be almost a See also:rival of its See also:parent city.

The most considerable towns of the interior were Gangra, in ancient times the See also:

capital of the Paphlagonian kings, afterwards called Germanicopolis, situated near the frontier of Galatia, and Pompeiopolis, in the valley of the Amnias (a tributary of the Halys), near which were extensive mines of the See also:mineral called by Strabo sandarake (red See also:arsenic), which was largely exported from Sinope. See Hommaire de See also:Hell, Voyage en Turquie (See also:Paris, 1854-186o) ; W. J. See also:Hamilton, Researches (See also:London, 1842) ; W. M. See also:Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor (London, 189o).

End of Article: PAPHLAGONIA

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