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Kingdom of Pontus | |||||||||
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281 BC–62 AD | |||||||||
Status |
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Capital | Amaseia, Sinope | ||||||||
Common languages | Greek (official after 3rd century BC,[1] coastal cities) Persian, Armenian (after 115 BC) and Anatolian languages (regional and dynastic) | ||||||||
Religion | Syncretic, incorporating Greek polytheism, Iranian religion, and local Anatolian religion. | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Basileus | |||||||||
• 281–266 BC | Mithridates I Ktistes | ||||||||
• 266–250 BC | Ariobarzanes | ||||||||
• c. 250–220 BC | Mithridates II | ||||||||
• c. 220–185 BC | Mithridates III | ||||||||
• c. 185 – c. 170 BC | Pharnaces I | ||||||||
• c. 170 – 150 BC | Mithridates IV and Laodice | ||||||||
• c. 150 – 120 BC | Mithridates V Euergetes | ||||||||
• 120–63 BC | Mithridates VI Eupator | ||||||||
• 63–47 BC | Pharnaces II | ||||||||
• 47–37 BC | Darius | ||||||||
• 37 BC | Arsaces | ||||||||
• 37–8 BC | Polemon I | ||||||||
• 8 BC – 38 AD | Pythodorida | ||||||||
• 38 AD – 62 AD | Polemon II | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Founded by Mithridates I | 281 BC | ||||||||
• Conquered by Pompey of the Roman Republic, remained as a client state (eastern part of the kingdom). | 63 BC | ||||||||
• Annexed by the Roman Empire under Emperor Nero. | 62 AD | ||||||||
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Pontus (‹See Tfd›Greek: Πόντος Pontos) was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus in modern-day Turkey, and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin,[2][3][4][5] which may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty.[6][5] The kingdom was proclaimed by Mithridates I in 281 BC[7] and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC.[8] The Kingdom of Pontus reached its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated.[9]
The kingdom had three cultural strands, which often fused together: Greek (mostly on the coast), Persian, and Anatolian,[10][5] with Greek becoming the official language in the 3rd century BC.[11]