Pontus was a Greco-Persian kingdom on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, Ukraine, and the Caucasus that existed from 281 BC to 62 AD, with Amaseia and Sinope serving as its capitals. Pontus was located among mountains and fertile river valleys, and its agricultural and trade economies were based in the valleys and the ports of the region. The kingdom had a mixture of Greek and Persian influences, having become a client state of Macedon in 333 BC. In 302 BC, the collection of Greek colonies split from Macedon with Mithridates I as its ruler; he claimed descent from Darius III of Persia. Pontus repulsed an invasion from Ptolemy I of Egypt, and Pontus would grow in power during the various wars in Asia Minor. Pontus allied with the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War, and King Mithridates V of Pontus was granted Phrygia in exchange for his assistance in defeating Eumenes III of Pergamon. In 120 BC, however, the anti-Roman Mithridates VI of Pontus took the throne, and he conquered Colchis in Georgia, the Crimea, Cappadocia, and Bithynia before becoming a Roman ally after being defeated in the First Mithridatic War. From 83 to 82 BC, he fought an indecisive war with Rome, and Pontus lost its alliance with Armenia and the province of Pontus to Rome after the end of the ten-year Third Mithridatic War in 63 BC. Pontus would become a client kingdom of Rome, and Mithridates' son Pharnaces II of Pontus sided with Pompey the Great during the Roman Civil War. Caesar responded by defeating Pharnaces at the Battle of Zela; Pharnaces was later slain by his rival, Asander of the Bosporus, that same year. Pontus remained a client kingdom of Rome until 62 CE, when Emperor Nero forced Polemon II of Pontus to abdicate. Pontus became a full part of the Roman Empire as a part of the province of Pontus et Bithynia.
Gallery[]
