Pontus (country)

Pontus ancient country, NE Asia Minor (now Turkey), on the Black Sea coast. On its inland side were Cappadocia and W Armenia. It was not significantly penetrated by Persian or Hellenic civilization. In the 4th cent. BC, Pontus was taken over by a Persian family, profiting by the breakup of the empire of Alexander the Great, and by 281 BC the ruler (Mithradates II) called himself king. A century later Pharnaces I was able to annex Sinope, and Mithradates V (d. 120 BC) 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 BC), and when Pharnaces II tried to take advantage of the Roman civil war, Julius Caesar easily removed (47 BC) the threat at Zela. The Romans joined Pontus to the province of Galatia-Cappadocia. The principal Pontic cities were Amasia, Neocaesarea, and Zela.

Pontus Ancient kingdom of ne Anatolia (Turkey). The coastal cities were colonized by Greeks in the 6th–5th centuries bc, and retained virtual autonomy under the Persian Empire. The kingdom of Pontus reached the height of its power under Mithridates VI ( the Great), who conquered Asia Minor, gained control of the Crimea, and threatened Rome. After Mithridates' defeat by Pompey (65 bc), Pontus was divided up under Roman rule, but it maintained its commercial prosperity.

Pontus an ancient region of northern Asia Minor, on the Black Sea coast north of Cappadocia. It reached its height between 120 and 63 bc under Mithridates VI, when it dominated the whole of Asia Minor; by the end of the 1st century bc it had been defeated by Rome and absorbed into the Roman Empire.