A r me n ia an d t he p on t u s BY E I R AM ARC D . S The Stat e of A rm e nia that is to be crea ted by th e Peace Co nference wi ll nat ura lly i nclude wi t hi nit s co n fi nes th e dis nd— l A t riet of Trebiz o the B lack Sea litt ora of rmenia . Ther e d in n n l i s t o be foun this regio a co siderab e Greek populat ion . V n l n . d l M r e iz e os , in the mem ora um on the t erri toria claims w S u d of Greece , hich he bmit te t o the Peace Conferenc e , advoca t ed that said district be incl uded in the pr opose d A — A n S tat e of Armenia . Greek rmenian com mi ssi o which held it s sessio ns in Pa ris has already agre ed upon a p lan which will insure the Greeks of Trebi zond full cu lt ural n \V e t n n and aut o om y . rej oice tha Arme ia Gre ek l eaders have thus laid t he foundation of an Arme no - Greek rap roch ement ld n and n p , which shou devel op i t o a clos e e during n friendshi p between the two ki dr ed races . Thi s paper has two purposes " (a ) To examine and det er t h e n and mine geographical , e th ographical , his torical eco nomic st atus of Po ntus and (b ) t o show tha t Pontus is an A n i nt egral part of rme ia . n in n sea was The am e Pontus , which Greek mea s , firs t us ed t o i ndicat e the B lack Sea " la t er i t was applied t o t he l n . seacoas t of that s ea . es pecia ly from Si ope t o B atum This w name , however , has no meaning of race o nership of a given territ ory ; i t is on ly an appellation simi lar t o that of Pacific C oas t and . , outside of Greek lit erature is seldom us ed Pont us in 300 l taken it s rest ricted area , ext ends about mi e s from and 40 l ea st t o we s t . an average of mi e s to the s outh , where the e ntire range of theB arkhar mountains forms the bound l n . s ary ine Thus , it approximat ely coi cide with the Turkish n provi ce of Trebiz ond . A l n l n though Po tus i s rea ly a coas tl and , ye t i t ofte is m ade t o include not only th e coastline from B atum t o Con stantinO le p , but i s oft en. meant t o enclos e all that t ract of land which in a gul f - like shape is e ncircl ed by th e right ba nk H l i a s . o f the r ver y This las t i s the ancient Cappadocia , or n t he Second Armenia of th e Armenia s . The name Pontus adhered to i t from the day of M ithridates , who ruled Second m Ar enia als o , and politically gave i t th e n ew name . His was empire , however , soon fell , and Pontus pushed back n B arkh ars i nt o its original l egitimat e bou daries , between the h t e . n and sea M odern Gre eks , especially th e claima ts of t h e Pontus for Greece , us e name t o include b eside the real all m and Pontus , Second Ar enia the entire coastline t o th e n n B osphorus . The t rue Greek de fi itio , h owever , does not go n all inla d a t ; i t only takes the coas t . l Pontus , being actua ly part and continuation of th e A — and rm enian table land , i t has al l th e climatic ge ol ogical n l ch . aract eristics of that land The la d i s very hi ly , so much s o that only a few roads cross it , and th e m os t prosperou s n n t ow ns are on the s eacoast . The mou tai s lift up their h eads ' in very sharp inclines , and at a shor t distance from th e s ea , a l fi rs t a ti tude of feet is reached , a s a s t epping s tone t o th e higher t errit ory inland . East ern Pontus has li ttl e agri l w cul ture , a though the e stern par t h as broad fi elds ; frui t is probably th e chief agricul tural specialty . Geographically , Pontus can be cl assi fied under one of n I t two designatio s . may b e considered a distinct count ry , w Tiro olis i f we ould t ake th e east ern hal f of it , from p t o B atum " for this section is enclosed on one side by th e s ea and n on th e other by the archi g B arkhar . Such a classi fi cation , s h owever , ha s never been t ri ed , because th e ame races of old l which overran Armenia a s o s et tled in this s ection , and thus force us t o classify . it as an int egral par t of th e Armenian l - n n t ab e la d , which would b e th e o ly natural and s ensibl e in clas si ficati on . Not only the Arm enians look at i t this l l ight , but a so al l foreign nations , both ancient and modern , ’ h ave conceded Armenia s right t o thi s district ; b ecause for l no V e thno ogical and economic reas ons , other iew can be t aken on the subj ect . From historic times , the Armenians have considered 6 Ch aldia Pontus as an Armenian province , named , and they have always r eferred t o i t under this s econd name . This geographical de signation i s very old ; much older than th e h possible claims other nations may put fort . From the lis t Ch aldia"< of Armenian provinces two , and Second Armenia , are th e one s which actually coincide wi th the foreigner ’ s Pontus of M ithridate s , not including th e northern ext ent , t . from B a um t o th e Danub e Now , not only h ave we t he ’ nam es of Armenia s provinces handed down t o us , but al s o i the nam es of th e dis trict of the prov nces . Of thes e we give ’ ’ Ch aldia s here th e lis t of and Second Armeni a s dis trict s , showing their l ocation on th e map by numbers " CH AL DI A S E CON D A R M E N I A Hamamash en Capira R izus Nicopolis Ath enae Satalla A rdash en E udocia O pius Sebastopolis Susurmenia Amassia A rdasia Comana Colanz Z ela Z ankha Teprika Agn Dascousia Singa e Of t h s e nam es a few are Greek in form , although only in form . Abou t four of them are t ruly Gre ek words ; but even the se have seldom been mentioned in old Greek authors . Ch aldia and Second Armenia , a s will b e se en from the map , s tre tch from the B lack s ea far int o th e h eart of Asia M inor , wh ere the Taurus M ount ains form th e dividing line . They ’ — enclos e one third of Arm enia s area , and oft en native Greeks demand thes e two provinces , t o be formed into Greek Pon t ian S tat e . This sam e t erri tory , i ncluding the northwe stern o c rner of Asia M inor , as far as th e B osphorus , once formed the Roman province of Pontus . In no other nation ’ s hist ory h ave thes e t wo p rovinces ’ mentioned as been part s of that nat ion s land , except Arme >" T h e read er mu st bear in mind th e d iff erent orth og raphy of th e two simi ar names " hald ea and Chaldia T h e first re ers to h nci nt l C a . f t e a e em i e of southern Meso otamia whi e th e secon is th e rmenian name p r p , l d A of an rmenian rovince c inci in with ontus in its r strict n o e e s s . A p , d g P d e e his if erence in orth o ra h is strict a h ere to in his a er T d f g p y ly d d t p p .