THE LAND and PEOPLE of PONTUS the Hellenistic

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INTRODUCTION THE LAND AND PEOPLE OF PONTUS The Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus which Mithridates Eupator in herited from his ancestors spanned much of the south coast of the Black Sea from Amastris in the west at least as far as Pharnaceia in the east. 1 It was bounded inland by Paphlagonia and Galatia in the west, by Cap padocia in the south and by Armenia Minor in the east. Strabo (12.1.4 c.534) gives its name as "Pontus" or "Cappadocia on the Pontus" ,2 while its neighbour to the south was known as "Cappadocia", "Cap padocia on the Taurus" or "Greater Cappadocia". Both Cappadocias had been satrapies of the Persian Empire but became independent kingdoms in the Hellenistic age. Pontus was situated in a remote area on the edge of the Greek and Roman world, 3 but fortunately the detailed description of Strabo, a native of Pontus, survives and provides much of what we know about the land. It divides into two distinct parts-a narrow coastal plain and a moun tainous inland region. 4 Communication between the two parts was made very difficult by the steeply rising range of the Pontic Alps, which runs parallel to the coast and close to it, leaving the coastal plain only a few miles wide in many places. It was on the coast that the only real cities of the kingdom were located: these were Greek settlements. At the west end was Amastris a city of two harbours noted for its boxwood, founded by Queen Amastris, wife ofDionysius tyrant ofHeracleia. 5 In the third cen tury Heracleia had been anxious to gain possession of the city of Amastris, but Eumenes its ruler ignored the Heracliots' offer of money, and in what Memnon describes as an irrational fit of rage, handed it over to Ariobarzanes of Pontus in about 279. 6 This may well have been the first coastal acquisition of the new kingdom. 7 1 Possibly it stretched to Trapezus: see below p. 5. 2 Polybius (5.43.1) calls it "Cappadocia on the Euxine". For the different uses of the word "Pontus" see Meyer, Geschichte 1-2. 3 According to Polybius (4.38.11), even Byzantium was a remote and relatively unknown spot. • For detailed descriptions see, for instance, T. R. S. Broughton, "Roman Asia Minor" in T. Frank, ed., An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome vol. 4 (1938) 599-607; Magie, RRAM 177-188; 1066-1083 nn. 1-34; D.R. Wilson, The Historical Geography of Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Pontus in the Greek and Roman Periods (B. Litt. Thesis Oxford 1960) 10-24. 5 Strabo 12.3.10 c.544; Wilson (supra n. 4) 162. 6 Memnon 9.4. For the date see Meyer, Geschichte 43. 7 Magie, RRAM 1087 n. 36. I'-:) jTHE KINGDOM OF PONTUS I BLACK SEA PAPHLAGONIA ..,z :,:, ~ 0 I>) 0 "C r. ha lys C: C) .., 0 GALATIA z eANCYRA eTAVIUM CAPPADOCIA I - - -50 100 MILES .

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