Pontus (region)
40°36′N 38°00′E / 40.6°N 38.0°E
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Pontos (Πόντος) | |
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Ancient region of Anatolia | |
Greek Orthodox bishoprics. |
Pontus or Pontos (
Having originally no specific name, the region east of the river
History
Early inhabitants
Pontus remained outside the reach of the Bronze Age empires, of which the closest was Great Hatti. The region went further uncontrolled by Hatti's eastern neighbors, Hurrian states like Azzi and (or) Hayasa. In those days, the best any outsider could hope from this region was temporary alliance with a local strongman. The Hittites called the unorganized groups on their northeastern frontier the Kaška. As of 2004 little had been found of them archaeologically.[4]
In the wake of the Hittite empire's collapse, the
The
Since there was so little literacy in northeastern Anatolia
Ancient Greek colonization
The first travels of Greek merchants and adventurers to the Pontus region occurred probably from around 1000 BC, whereas their settlements would become steady and solidified cities only by the 8th and 7th centuries BC as archaeological findings document. This fits in well with a foundation date of 731 BC as reported by
Persian Empire expansion
By the 6th century BC, Pontus had become officially a part of the Achaemenid Empire, which probably meant that the local Greek colonies were paying tribute to the Persians. When the Athenian commander Xenophon passed through Pontus around a century later in 401-400 BC, in fact, he found no Persians in Pontus.[15]
The peoples of this part of northern
Kingdom of Pontus
The
As the
During the troubled period following the death of
This kingdom reached its greatest height under
Roman province
With the subjugation of this kingdom by
Hereafter the simple name Pontus without qualification was regularly employed to denote the half of this dual province, especially by Romans and people speaking from the Roman point of view; it is so used almost always in the
In AD 62, the country was constituted by Nero a Roman province. It was divided into the three districts: Pontus Galaticus in the west, bordering on Galatia; Pontus Polemoniacus in the centre, so called from its capital Polemonium; and Pontus Cappadocicus in the east, bordering on Cappadocia (Armenia Minor). Subsequently, the Roman Emperor Trajan moved Pontus into the province of Cappadocia itself in the early 2nd century AD.[21] In response to a Gothic raid on Trebizond in 287 AD, the Roman Emperor Diocletian decided to break up the area into smaller provinces under more localized administration.[9]
With the reorganization of the provincial system under Diocletian (about AD 295), the Pontic districts were divided up between three smaller, independent provinces within the Dioecesis Pontica:[9][19]
- Galatian Pontus, also called Diospontus, later renamed Helenopontus by as well.
- Pontus Polemoniacus, with its capital at Polemonium (also called Side), and including the cities of Neocaesarea, Argyroupolis, Comana, and Cerasus as well.
- Cappadocian Pontus, with its capital at Trebizond, and including the small ports of Athanae and Rhizaeon. This province extended all the way to Colchis.
Byzantine province and theme
The Byzantine Emperor
- Pontus Polemoniacus was dissolved, with the western part (Polemonium and Neocaesarea) going to Helenopontus, Comana going to the new province of Armenia II, and the rest (Trebizond and Cerasus) joining the new province of Armenia I Magna with its capital at Justinianopolis.[9]
- Helenopontus gained Polemonium and Neocaesarea, and lost Zela to Armenia II. The provincial governor was relegated to the rank of moderator.
- Paphlagonia absorbed Honorias and was put under a praetor.
By the time of the early Byzantine Empire, Trebizond became a center of culture and scientific learning. In the 7th century, an individual named Tychicus returned from Constantinople to establish a school of learning. One of his students was the early Armenian scholar Anania of Shirak.[22]
Under the Byzantine Empire, the Pontus came under the
The region was secured militarily from the 11th through the 15th centuries with a vast network of sophisticated coastal fortresses.[23]
Empire of Trebizond
Following
Ottoman vilayet
Distribution of Trebizond Vilayet[25] | |||||||
Source | Muslims | Greeks | Armenians | Total | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Official Ottoman Statistics, 1910 | 1,047,889 72.56% |
351,104 24.31% |
45,094 3.12% |
1,444,087 | |||
Ecumenical Patriarchate Statistics, 1912 | 957,866 70.33% |
353,533 25.96% |
50,624 3.72% |
1,362,026 |
Under the subsequent Ottoman rule which began with the fall of
Republic of Pontus
The
Present
The Black Sea Region (
Religion
Mentioned thrice in the New Testament, inhabitants of Pontus were some of the very first converts to
As early as the
Notable Pontians
- Diogenes of Sinope(c. 408–323 BC), Greek philosopher from Sinope, one of founders of Cynic philosophy
- Mithridates VI Eupator (c. 135 BC – 63 BC), Pontic King, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents.
- Amaseia
- Marcion of Sinope (c. 85 – c. 160 AD), early Christian theologian
- Evagrius Ponticus (345–399 AD), Greek theologian and monk
- Basilios Bessarion(1403–1472), Greek scholar, Roman Catholic cardinal and titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople
- Alexander Ypsilantis (1792–1828), Greek military commander and national hero of the 19th century
- A. I. Bezzerides (1908–2007), American novelist and screenwriter, born in Samsun
- Antonis Fosteridis (1912–1979), Greek nationalist, anticommunist partisan during WWII
- Stelios Kazantzidis (1931–2001), Greek singer of Greek popular music, or Laïkó
- Chrysanthos Theodoridis (1933–2005), singer
- Research in Motion and creator of BlackBerryphones
- Melina Aslanidou (1974–present), Greek singer
- Pantelis Pantelidis (1983–2016), Greek singer
- Apolas Lermi (1986-present), Greco-Turkish folk musician
See also
- Amaseia, Ancient capital of Pontus
- Ancient regions of Anatolia
- Caucasus Greeks
- Greek genocide
- Lazistan
- Pontic Greek
- Republic of Pontus
Citations
- S2CID 162611158. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ πόντος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus.
- ^ Εὔξεινος, William J. Slater, Lexicon to Pindar, on Perseus.
- S2CID 161960753.
- ^ Records of Tiglath-Pileser I apud RD Barnett (1975). "30". The Cambridge Ancient History. pp. 417f., 420.
- ^ So the 1877 translation of "Sargon's Great Inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad", http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Sargon.html Archived 2015-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Meyer, Geschichte d. Königr. Pontos (Leipzig: 1879) [dead link]
- ISBN 978-1-56859-155-1.
- ^ a b c d e Hewsen, 43.
- ^ a b Hewsen, 46.
- ^ Kristensen, Anne Katrine Gade (1988). Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?: Sargon II, and the Cimmerians, and Rusa I. Copenhagen Denmark: The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters.
- ^ "Ancient Turkey: History of Asia Minor".
- ^ Hewsen, 39 f.
- ^ Hewsen, 39.
- ^ Hewsen, 40.
- ^ Herodotus 3.90-94.
- ^ Strabo 11.8.4 C512; 12.3.37 C559.
- ^ a b electricpulp.com. "PONTUS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Archived from the original on 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
- ^ a b c d e f public domain: Anderson, John George Clark (1911). "Pontus". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 70–71. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Hewsen, 41 f.
- ^ a b c Hewsen, 42.
- ^ a b Hewsen, 47.
- ^ Robert W. Edwards, “The Garrison Forts of the Pontos: A Case for the Diffusion of the Armenian Paradigm,” Revue des Études Arméniennes 19, 1985, pp. 181-284, pls.1-51b.
- ^ Hewsen, 48 f.
- ISBN 978-1-85065-702-6.
- ^ Hewsen, 54.
General and cited sources
- Bryer, Anthony A. M. (1980), The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos, London: Variorum Reprints, ISBN 0-86078-062-7
- Ramsay MacMullen, 2000. Romanization in the Time of Augustus (Yale University Press)
External links
- History of Pontus
- The term Euxinus Pontus Archived 2014-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Where East Meets West