Pontus was an ancient country, North-east of Asia
Minor (now Turkey), on the Black
Sea coast. On its inland side were Cappadocia
and Western Armenia. It was not significantly penetrated by Persian or
Hellenic civilization. In the 4th cent. B.C., Pontus was taken over by
a Persian family, profiting by the breakup of the empire of Alexander
the Great, and by 281 B.C. the ruler (Mithradates II) called himself
king. A century later Pharnaces I was able to annex Sinop,
and Mithradates V (d. 120 B.C.) gained Phrygia by
a profitable alliance with Rome. The greatest Pontic ruler was Mithradates
VI, who conquered Asia Minor, gained control
of the Crimea, and threatened Rome in Greece. But the Pontic "empire" had
neither economic nor political stability, and Mithradates prospered only
because Rome was preoccupied elsewhere. Pompey defeated him (65 B.C.),
and when Pharnaces II tried to take advantage of the Roman civil war, Julius
Caesar easily removed (47 B.C.) the threat at Zela. The Romans joined Pontus
to the province of Galatia - Cappadocia.
The principal Pontic cities were Amasia (Amasya),
Neocaesarea, and Zela.
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