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PONTUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 71 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PONTUS , a name applied in See also:

ancient times to extensive tracts of See also:country in the See also:north-See also:east of See also:Asia See also:Minor bordering on the Euxine (See also:Black See also:Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the See also:Main), by the Greeks. The exact signification of this purely territorial name varied greatly at different times. The Greeks used it loosely of various parts of the shores of the Euxine, and the See also:term did not get a definite See also:connotation till after the See also:establishment of the See also:kingdom founded beyond the Halys during the troubled See also:period following the See also:death of See also:Alexander the See also:Great, about 301 B.C., by See also:Mithradates I., Ktistes, son of a See also:Persian See also:satrap in the service of Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors, and ruled by a See also:succession of See also:kings, mostly bearing the same name, till 64 B.C. As the greater See also:part of this kingdom See also:lay within the immense region of See also:Cappadocia, which in See also:early ages extended from the See also:borders of See also:Cilicia to the Euxine, the kingdom as a whole was at first called " Cappadocia towards the Pontus " (7rpos rcu lI6vrcu), but afterwards simply " Pontus," the name Cappadocia being henceforth restricted to the See also:southern See also:half of the region previously included under that See also:title. Under the last See also:king, Mithradates Eupator, commonly called the Great, the See also:realm of Pontus included not only Pontic Cappadocia but also the seaboard from the Bithynian frontier to See also:Colchis, part of inland See also:Paphlagonia, and Lesser See also:Armenia (see under MITHRADATES). With the destruction of this kingdom by See also:Pompey in 64 B.C., the meaning of the name Pontus underwent a See also:change. Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the See also:Roman See also:Empire, being See also:united with See also:Bithynia in a See also:double See also:province called "Pontus and Bithynia ": this part included (possibly from the first, but certainly from about 40 B.C. onwards) only the seaboard between Heracleia (Eregli) and Amisus (See also:Samsun), the ora Pontica. Hereafter the See also:simple name Pontus without qualification was regularly employed to denote the half of this dual province, especially by See also:Romans and See also:people speaking from the Roman point of view; it is so used almost always in the New Testament. But it was also frequently used to denote (in whole or part) that portion of the old Mithradatic kingdom which lay between the Halys (roughly) and the borders of Colchis, Lesser Armenia, Cappadocia and See also:Galatia—the region properly designated by the title " Cappadocia towards the Pontus," which was always the See also:nucleus of the Pontic kingdom. This region is regarded by the geographer See also:Strabo (A.D. 19-20), himself a native of the country, as Pontus in the strict sense of the term (Geogr. p. 678).

Its native See also:

population was of the same stock as that of Cappadocia, of which it had formed a part, an See also:Oriental See also:race often called by the Greeks Leucosyri or See also:White Syrians, as distinguished from the southern Syrians, who were of a darker complexion, but their precise ethnological relations are uncertain. Geographically it is a table-See also:land, forming the north-east corner of the great See also:plateau of Asia Minor, edged on the north by a lofty See also:mountain rim, along the See also:foot of which runs a fringe of See also:coast-land. The table-land consists of a See also:series of fertile plains, of varying See also:size and See also:elevation separated from each other by upland tracts or mountains, and it is drained almost entirely by the See also:river See also:Iris (Yeshil Irmak) and its numerous tributaries, the largest of which are the Scylax (Tchekerek Irmak) with many affluents and the Lycus (Kalkid Irmak), all three rising in the See also:highlands near, or on, the frontier of Armenia Minor and flowing first in a See also:westerly and then in a north-westerly direction to See also:merge their See also:waters in a See also:joint stream, which (under the name of the Iris) pierces the mountain-See also:wall and emerges on the east of Amisus (Samsun). Between the Halys and the Iris the mountain rim is comparatively See also:low and broken, but east of the Iris it is a continuous lofty See also:ridge (called by the ancients Paryadres and Scydises), whose rugged See also:northern slopes are furrowed by torrent beds, down which a See also:host of small streams (among them the Thermodon, famed in See also:Amazon See also:story) tumble to the sea. These inaccessible slopes were inhabited even in Strabo's See also:time by See also:wild, half-barbarous tribes, of whose ethnical relations we are ignorant—the Chalybes (identified by the Greeks with See also:Homer's Chalybes), Tibareni, Mosynoeci and Macrones, on whose See also:manners and See also:condition some See also:light is thrown by See also:Xenophon (Anab. V). But the fringe of coast-land from See also:Trebizond westward is one of the most beautiful parts of Asia Minor and is justly extolled by Strabo for its wonderful productiveness. The sea-coast, like the See also:rest of the See also:south See also:shore of the Euxine, was studded with See also:Greek colonies founded from the 6th See also:century onwards: Amisus, a See also:colony of See also:Miletus, which in the 5th century received a See also:body of Athenian settlers, now the See also:port of Samsun; Cotyora, now Ordu; Cerasus, the later Pharnacia, now See also:Kerasund; and Trapezus (Trebizond), a famous See also:city from Xenophon's time till the end of the See also:middle ages. The last three were colonies of See also:Sinope, itself a Milesian colony. The See also:chief towns in the interior were See also:Amasia, on the Iris, the birthplace of Strabo, the See also:capital of Mithradates the Great, and the See also:burial-See also:place of the earlier kings, whose tombs still exist; See also:Comana, higher up the river, a famous centre of the See also:worship of the goddess Ma (or See also:Cybele) ; Zela, another great religious centre, refounded by Pompey, now Zileh; See also:Eupatoria, refounded by Pompey as Magnopolis at the junction of the Lycus and Iris; Cabira, Pompey's Diospolis, afterwards Neocaesarea, now Niksar; Sebastopolis on the Scylax, now Sulu Seri; Sebasteia, now See also:Sivas; and See also:Megalopolis, a See also:foundation of Pompey, somewhere in the same See also:district. The See also:history of this region is the history of the advance of the Roman Empire towards the See also:Euphrates. Its See also:political position between 64 and 41 B.C., when See also:Mark Antony became See also:master of the East, is not quite certain.

Part of it was handed over by Pompey to client princes: the coast-land east of the Halys (except the territory of Amisus) and the See also:

hill-tribes of Paryadres were given, with Lesser Armenia, to the Galatian chief See also:Deiotarus, with the title of king; Comana was See also:left under the See also:rule of its high-See also:priest. The rest of the interior was partitioned by Pompey amongst the inland cities, almost all of which were founded by him, and, according to one view, was included together with the seaboard See also:west of Amisus and the corner of north-east Paphlagonia possessed by Mithradates in his new province Pontus-Bithynia. Others maintain that only the seaboard See See also:Ramsay, Histor. Geogr. of Asia Minor (189o) ; See also:Anderson and was included in the province, the inland cities being constituted self-governing, " protected " communities. The latter view is more in conformity with Roman policy in the East, which did not usually annex countries till they reached (under the rule of client princes) a certain level of See also:civilization and See also:order, but it is difficult to reconcile with Strabo's statements (p. 541 sqq.). In any See also:case, during the years following 40 B.C. all inland Pontus was handed over, like north-east Paphlagonia, to native dynasts. The Pontic possessions of Deiotarus (d. 40 B.c.) were given with additions (e.g. Cabira) in 39 B.C. to See also:Darius, son of Pharnaces, and in 36 B.c. to Polemon, son of a rhetorician of See also:Laodicea on the Lycus. The high-priest of Comana, Lycomedes, received an See also:accession of territory and the royal title. The territories of Zela and Megalopolis were divided between Lycomedes, the high-priest of Zela and Ateporix, who ruled the principality of Carana (later Sebastopolis).

Amasia and Amisus were also given to native princes. After the See also:

battle of See also:Actium (31 B.C.) See also:Augustus restored Amisus as a See also:free city " to the province of Bithynia-Pontus, but made no other serious change. Polemon retained his kingdom till his death in 8 B.c., when it passed to his widow Pythodoris. But presently the See also:process of See also:annexation began and the Pontic districts were gradually incorporated in the empire, each being attached to the province of Galatia, then the centre of Roman forward policy. (1) The western district was annexed in two sections, Sebastopolis and Amasia in 3—2 B.C., and Comana in A.D. 34—35. To distinguish this district from the province Pontus and Polemon's Pontus, it' was henceforth' called Pontus galaticus (as being the first part attached to Galatia). (2) Polemon's kingdom, ruled since A.D. 38 by Polemon II., See also:grandson of the former king, was annexed by See also:Nero in A.D. 64-65, and distinguished by the title of Pontus polemoniacus, which survived for centuries. [But the simple name Pontus, hitherto commonly used to designate Polemon's realm, is still employed to denote this district by itse4f or in See also:conjunction with Pontus Galaticus, where the context makes the meaning clear (e.g. in See also:inscriptions and on coins)] Polemoniacus included the sea-coast from the Thermodon to Cotyora and the inland cities Zela, Magnopolis, Megalopolis, Neocaesarea and Sebasteia (according to See also:Ptolemy, but apparently annexed since 2 B.c., according to its coins). (3) Finally, at the same time (A.D.

64) was annexed the remaining eastern part of Pontus, which formed part of Polemon's realm but was attached to the province Cappadocia and distinguished by the epithet cappedocicus. These three districts formed distinct administrative divisions within the provinces to which they were attached, with See also:

separate capitals Amasia, Neocaesarea and Trapezus; but the first two were afterwards merged in one, sometimes called Pontus mediterraneus, with Neocaesarea as capital, probably when they were definitively transferred (about A.D. 114) to Cappadocia, then the great frontier military province. With the reorganization of the provincial See also:system under See also:Diocletian (about A.D. 295), the Pontic districts were divided up between four provinces of the dioecesis pontica: (1) Paphlagonia, to which was attached most of the old province Pontus; (2) Diospontus, re-named Helenopontus by See also:Constantine, containing the rest of the province Pontus and the adjoining district, eight cities in all (including Sinope, Amisus and Zela) with Amasia as capital; (3) Pontus Polemoniacus, containing Comana, Polemonium, Cerasus and Trapezus with Neocaesarea as capital; and (4) Armenia Minor, five cities, with Sebasteia, as capital. This rearrangement gave place in turn to the See also:Byzantine system of military districts (themes). See also:Christianity was introduced into the province Pontus (the Ora pontica) by way of the sea in the 1st century after See also:Christ and was deeply rooted when See also:Pliny governed the province (A.D. 111—113). But the Christianization of the inland Pontic districts began only about the middle of the 3rd century and was largely due to the missionary zeal of See also:Gregory Thaumaturgus, See also:bishop of Neocaesarea. Cumont, Studia pontica (19o3 et seq.); Babelon and See also:Reinach, Recueil See also:des monnaies d'Asie See also:min., t. i. (1904) ; H. See also:Gregoire, " Voyage dans le See also:Pont " &c. in See also:Bull. de corres. See also:hell.

(1909). U. G. C.

End of Article: PONTUS

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