PONTUS, in ancient geography, a country of northeastern Asia Minor, originally the part of Cappadocia lying between Armenia and Col this and the Halys River; called first Cappa docia on the Pontus (that is, Euxinus, or Black Sea), and then simply Pontus. The country on the east and south is mountainous, but along the coast there are large and fertile plains. A son of the Persian king Darius, Artabazes, received Pontus as a separate satrapy, with the right to transmit it as an inheritance to his posterity. One of his successors, Mithridates (about 400 a.c.), assisted the younger Cyrus, and refused to pay tribute to Artaxerxes. His son, Ariobar zanes I (363-337), made himself independent during the general insurrection of the governors of Asia Minor against Artaxerxes II. Mithri dates II (337-302) transferred his kingdom voluntarily to Alexander. Afterward, in the division of his empire in 322, it fell to An tigonus. His successor, Mithridates III (302 266), enlarged his paternal kingdom by con quests, and was succeeded by his son Ariobar zanes III, who reigned from 266 to about 240 a.c., and he again by his son Mithridates IV, whose reign extended to about 190 ac. He drove back the Gauls, who at various times in the course of the 3d century ac. invaded Asia Minor, formed settlements there, and attacked Pontus shortly after his accession. Pharnaces I, who succeeded Mithridates IV, and reigned till about 156 B.C., took possession of Sinope, and made it his residence. Mithridates the
Great in 124 succeeded his father, in whose time Phrygia had become a part of Pontus. He carried on bloody wars with Rome until his death; at last he submitted to Pompey, and killed himself, 63 ac., from despair. The western part of Pontus was then annexed to Bithynia, and the remaining parts given away to the chiefs of some of the adjoining states. Pharnaces II, the treacherous son of Mithri dates, obtained only Bosporus, and when he at tempted to conquer again his paternal kingdom was vanquished by Cesar, and put to death by Asander, who had made himself king of Bos porus. Still his son Darius received through Antony a part of Pontus. Polemon, who at the same time possessed the kingdom of Bos porus, Asia Minor and Colchis, was his succes sor. After the death of his widow, Pythodoris, Polemon II succeeded, as king of Pontus, 39 A.D. Nero took Bosporus from him, and Pontus, under the name of Pontus Polemoniacus, be came, after Polemon's death, a Roman province. When the Latins in 1204 again conquered Con stantinople, Alexius Comnenus founded a new kingdom in Pontus, which remained until Mohammed II united it in 1461 with his great conquests. The most noted town on the coast of Pontus was Trapesus, the modern Trebi zond. Consult Clinton, (Vol. III, Appendix) ; Meyer, des Kiinigreichs Pontus) (1879).