Editing Pontus (region)

{{Short description|Region in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey}}
{{coord|40.6|38.0|dim:400km|display=title}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox
| bodyclass = geography
| abovestyle = background:#DEB887;
| subheader = Ancient region of Anatolia
| above = Pontos (Πόντος)
| image = [[File:Pont localisation.png|300px|Region of Pontus]] 
| caption = Region of Pontus
| label1 = Location
| data1 = North-eastern [[Anatolia]] (modern-day [[Turkey]])
| label2 = Ethnic Groups
| data2 = [[Chalybes]], [[Leucosyri|Leukosyroi]], [[Macrones|Makrones]], [[Mossynoeci|Mossynoikoi]], [[Mushki|Muški]], [[Tibareni|Tibarenoi]], [[Laz people|Laz]], [[Georgian people|Georgians]], [[Armenians]], [[Cimmerians]], [[Pontic Greeks]], [[Persian people|Persians]] (from 6th c. BC), [[Jews]], [[Hemshin peoples|Hemshin]], [[Chepni]] and [[Turkish people|Turks]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meeker |first1=Michael E. |title=The Black Sea Turks: Some Aspects of Their Ethnic and Cultural Background |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=1971 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=318–345 |doi=10.1017/S002074380000129X |jstor=162721 |s2cid=162611158 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/162721 |access-date=28 December 2021 |issn=0020-7438|url-access=subscription }}</ref> (from 11th c.)
| label3 = Historical capitals
| data3 = [[Amasya|Amasia]] ([[Amasya]]), [[Neocaesarea]] ([[Niksar]]), [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinop]]e ([[Sinop, Turkey|Sinop]]), [[Trabzon|Trebizond]] ([[Trabzon]])
| label4 = Notable rulers
| data4 = [[Mithradates Eupator]]
| data8 = [[File:Pontus.png|250px|The Pontus region]]<br><small>The modern definition of the Pontus: the area claimed for the "[[Republic of Pontus]]" after [[World War I]], based on the extent of the six local [[Greek Orthodox]] bishoprics.</small>
}}
{{Pontic Greeks}}

'''Pontus''' or '''Pontos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|n|t|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Πόντος|translit=Póntos|4=sea}},<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpo%2Fntos πόντος], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus.</ref>) is a [[region]] on the southern coast of the [[Black Sea]], located in the modern-day eastern [[Black Sea Region]] of [[Turkey]]. The name was applied to the coastal region and its mountainous hinterland (rising to the [[Pontic Alps]] in the east) by the [[Greeks]] who colonized the area in the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: {{Lang|el|Εύξεινος Πόντος}} ''(''{{Lang|el-Latn|Eúxinos Póntos}}'')'', "Hospitable Sea",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0072%3Aentry%3D*eu%29%2Fceinos Εὔξεινος], William J. Slater, ''Lexicon to Pindar'', on Perseus.</ref> or simply ''Pontos'' ({{Lang|grc|ὁ Πόντος}}) as early as the [[Aeschylus|Aeschylean]] ''[[The Persians|Persians]]'' (472 BC) and [[Herodotus]]' ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' (circa 440 BC).

Having originally no specific name, the region east of the river [[Halys River|Halys]] was spoken of as the country {{Lang|el|Ἐν Πόντῳ}} ''({{Lang|el-Latn|En Póntō}})'', {{Lit|on the [Euxinos] Pontos}}, and hence it acquired the name of Pontus, which is first found in [[Xenophon]]'s ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'' ({{circa|370 BC}}). The extent of the region varied through the ages but generally extended from the borders of [[Colchis]] (modern western [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]) until well into [[Paphlagonia]] in the west, with varying amounts of [[hinterland]]. Several states and provinces bearing the name of Pontus or variants thereof were established in the region in the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]], [[History of Rome|Roman]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] periods, culminating in the late Byzantine [[Empire of Trebizond]]. Pontus is sometimes considered as the original home of the [[Amazons]], in ancient [[Greek mythology]] and [[historiography]] (e. g. by Herodotus and [[Strabo]]).

==History==
[[File:Evler2b.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Traditional rural Pontic house.]]

===Early inhabitants===
Pontus remained outside the reach of the [[Bronze Age]] empires, of which the closest was Great [[Hattians|Hatti]]. The region went further uncontrolled by Hatti's eastern neighbors, [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] states like [[Hayasa-Azzi|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 [[Kaskians|Kaška]]. As of 2004 little had been found of them archaeologically.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Roger Matthews |title=Landscapes of Terror and Control: Imperial Impacts in Paphlagonia |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology|volume=67|issue=4|date=December 2004 |pages=200–211|doi=10.2307/4132387 |jstor=4132387 |s2cid=161960753 }}</ref>

In the wake of the Hittite empire's collapse, the [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] court noted that the "Kašku" had overrun its territory in conjunction with a hitherto unknown group whom they labeled the [[Mushki|Muški]].<ref>Records of Tiglath-Pileser I ''apud'' {{cite book|title=The Cambridge Ancient History|year= 1975|pages=417f|chapter=30|author=RD Barnett}}, 420.</ref> [[Iron Age]] visitors to the region, mostly Greek, noted that the hinterlands remained disunited, and they recorded the names of tribes: Moskhians (often associated with those Muški),<ref>So the 1877 translation of "Sargon's Great Inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad", http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Sargon.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619000229/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Sargon.html |date=2015-06-19 }}</ref> [[Leucosyri]],<ref>[http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999%2e04%2e0062&query=id%3dpontus#id,pontus Meyer, Geschichte d. Königr. Pontos (Leipzig: 1879)] {{dead link|date=April 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Mares, [[Macrones|Makrones]], [[Mossynoeci|Mossynoikoi]], [[Tibareni|Tibarenoi]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Hewsen|first=Robert H.|title=Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities|year=2009|publisher=Mazda Publishers, Inc.|location=Costa Mesa, CA|isbn=978-1-56859-155-1|pages=40 f| editor=Richard G. Hovannisian|chapter=Armenians on the Black Sea: The Province of Trebizond}}</ref> [[Tzans]]<ref name=Hewsen43>Hewsen, 43.</ref> and [[Chalybes]] or Chaldoi.<ref name=Hewsen46>Hewsen, 46.</ref>

The [[Armenian language]] went unnoted by the Hittites, the Assyrians, and all the post-Hittite nations; an ancient theory&nbsp;– first conjectured by [[Herodotus]]&nbsp;– is that its speakers migrated from [[Phrygia]], past literary notice, across Pontus during the early Iron Age. The [[Greeks]], who spoke a closely related Indo-European tongue, followed them along the coast. The Greeks are the earliest long-term inhabitants of the region from whom written records survive. During the late 8th century BC, Pontus further became a base for the [[Cimmerians]], another Indo-European speaking people; however, these were defeated by the [[Lydians]], and became a distant memory after the campaigns of [[Alyattes of Lydia|Alyattes]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Kristensen| first=Anne Katrine Gade| title=Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?: Sargon II, and the Cimmerians, and Rusa I|year=1988|publisher=The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters|location=Copenhagen Denmark}}</ref>

Since there was so little literacy in northeastern Anatolia<ref>{{cite web | url=https://timemaps.com/encyclopedia/history-anatolia/ | title=Ancient Turkey: History of Asia Minor }}</ref> until the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] and Hellenistic era, one can only speculate as to the other languages spoken here. Given that [[Kartvelian languages]] remain spoken to the east of Pontus, some are suspected to have been spoken in eastern Pontus during the Iron Age: the Tzans are usually associated with today's [[Laz people|Laz]].<ref name=Hewsen43/>
===Ancient Greek colonization===
{{main|Greek colonisation}}
[[File:Asia Minor in the Greco-Roman period - general map - regions and main settlements.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Anatolia]] or [[Asia Minor]] in the Greco-Roman period: The classical regions, including Pontus, and their main settlements.]]
[[File:Putzger Kleinasien.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Map of Pontus in antiquity, 1901]]

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 [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] for [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], perhaps the most ancient of the Greek colonies in what was later to be called Pontus.<ref name=Hewsen3940>Hewsen, 39 f.</ref> The epical narratives related to the travels of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] to [[Colchis]], the tales of [[Heracles]]' navigating the Black Sea, and [[Odysseus]]' wanderings into the land of the [[Cimmerians]], as well as the myth of [[Zeus]] constraining [[Prometheus]] to the [[Caucasus]] mountains as a punishment for his outwitting the Gods, can all be seen as reflections of early contacts between early Greek colonists and the local, probably Caucasian, peoples. The earliest known written description of Pontus, however, is that of [[Scylax of Caryanda|Scylax of Korianda]], who in the 7th century BC described Greek settlements in the area.<ref name=Hewsen39>Hewsen, 39.</ref>

===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.<ref name=Hewsen40>Hewsen, 40.</ref>

The peoples of this part of northern [[Asia Minor]] were incorporated into the third and nineteenth [[satrapies]] of the Persian empire.<ref>Herodotus 3.90-94.</ref> [[Iran]]ian influence ran deep, illustrated most famously by the temple of the Persian deities Anaitis, Omanes, and Anadatos at [[Zile|Zela]], founded by victorious Persian generals in the 6th century BC.<ref>Strabo 11.8.4 C512; 12.3.37 C559.</ref>

===Kingdom of Pontus===
{{main|Kingdom of Pontus}}

The [[Kingdom of Pontus]] extended generally to the east of the Halys River. The [[Persian people|Persian]] dynasty which was to found this kingdom had during the 4th century BC ruled the Greek city of [[Cius]] (or Kios) in [[Mysia]], with its first known member being [[Ariobarzanes I of Cius]] and the last ruler based in the city being [[Mithridates II of Cius]]. Mithridates II's son, also called [[Mithridates III of Cius|Mithridates]], would proclaim himself later Mithridates I Ktistes of Pontus.

As the ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]'' states, the most famous member of the family, [[Mithradates VI Eupator]], although undoubtedly presenting himself to the Greek world as a civilized philhellene and new Alexander, also paraded his [[History of Iran|Iranian]] background: he maintained a harem and [[eunuchs]] in true Oriental fashion; he gave all his sons Persian names; he sacrificed spectacularly in the manner of the Persian kings at [[Pasargadae]] (Appian, Mith. 66, 70); and he appointed “[[satraps]]” (a Persian title) as his provincial governors.<ref name="iranicaonline.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/pontus|title=PONTUS – Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=electricpulp.com|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=2015-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724160218/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/pontus|archive-date=2015-07-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> Iranica further states, and although there is only one inscription attesting it, he seems to have adopted the title “king of kings.” The very small number of Hellenistic Greek inscriptions that have been found anywhere in Pontus suggest that [[Greek culture]] did not substantially penetrate beyond the coastal cities and the court.<ref name="iranicaonline.org"/>

During the troubled period following the death of [[Alexander the Great]], Mithridates Ktistes was for a time in the service of [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus|Antigonus]], one of Alexander's [[Diadochi|successors]],<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Pontus |volume=22 |pages=70–71 |first=John George Clark |last=Anderson}}</ref> and successfully maneuvering in this unsettled time managed, shortly after 302 BC, to create the Kingdom of Pontus which would be ruled by his descendants mostly bearing the same name, until 64 BC. Thus, this Persian dynasty managed to survive and prosper in the [[Hellenistic]] world while the main [[Persian Empire]] had fallen.

This kingdom reached its greatest height under [[Mithridates VI]] or Mithridates Eupator, commonly called the Great, who for many years carried on war with the Romans. Under him,  the realm of Pontus included not only Pontic Cappadocia but also the seaboard from the [[Bithynia]]n frontier to [[Colchis]], part of inland [[Paphlagonia]], and [[Lesser Armenia]].<ref name=EB1911/> Despite ruling Lesser Armenia, King Mithridates VI was an ally of Armenian King [[Tigranes the Great]], to whom he married his daughter Cleopatra.<ref>Hewsen, 41 f.</ref> Eventually, however, the Romans defeated both King Mithridates VI and his son-in-law, Armenian King Tigranes the Great, during the [[Mithridatic Wars]], bringing Pontus under Roman rule.<ref name=Hewsen42>Hewsen, 42.</ref>

[[File:1stMithritadicwar89BC.svg|center|300px|thumb|Map of Asia Minor in 89 BC, showing Roman provinces and client states as well as Pontic territory. The Kingdom of Pontus, under Mithridates VI the Great, is in green.]]

===Roman province===
{{main|Bithynia et Pontus}}

With the subjugation of this kingdom by [[Pompey]] in 64 BC, little changed in the daily lives of either the oligarchies that controlled the cities or for the common people there and in the hinterland, though the meaning of the name Pontus underwent a change.<ref name=EB1911/> Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the [[Roman Empire]], being united with Bithynia in a double province called '''Pontus and Bithynia''': this part included only the seaboard between [[Heraclea Pontica|Heraclea]] (today [[Karadeniz Ereğli|Ereğli]]) and [[Amisus]] ([[Samsun]]), the ''ora Pontica''.<ref name=EB1911/> The larger part of Pontus, however, was included in the province of Galatia.<ref name=Hewsen42/>

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 [[New Testament]].<ref name=EB1911/> The eastern half of the old kingdom was administered as a [[client kingdom]] together with [[Colchis]]. Its last king was [[Polemon (Cilicia)|Polemon II]].

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 [[Fatsa|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.<ref name=Hewsen42/> In response to a [[Goths|Gothic]] raid on Trebizond in 287 AD, the Roman Emperor [[Diocletian]] decided to break up the area into smaller provinces under more localized administration.<ref name=Hewsen43/>

[[File:Dioecesis Pontica 400 AD.png|thumb|300px|right|The [[Diocese of Pontus]] and its provinces, {{circa|400 AD}}]]

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 '''[[Diocese of Pontus|Dioecesis Pontica]]''':<ref name=Hewsen43/><ref name=EB1911/>

*'''Galatian Pontus''', also called '''Diospontus''', later renamed '''Helenopontus''' by [[Constantine the Great]] after his [[Helena of Constantinople|mother]]. It had its capital at [[Samsun|Amisus]], and included the cities of [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], [[Amasya|Amasia]], [[Andres (Pontus)|Andres]], [[Ibora]], and [[Zile|Zela]] as well.
*'''Pontus Polemoniacus''', with its capital at Polemonium (also called [[Side, Turkey|Side]]), and including the cities of [[Niksar|Neocaesarea]], [[Gümüşhane|Argyroupolis]], Comana, and Cerasus as well.
*'''Cappadocian Pontus''', with its capital at Trebizond, and including the small ports of [[Pazar, Rize|Athanae]] and [[Rize|Rhizaeon]]. This province extended all the way to Colchis.

===Byzantine province and theme===
[[File:Sumela_From_Across_Valley.JPG|thumb|310px|[[Sumela Monastery]] in Pontic Mountains]]

The Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian]] further reorganized the area in 536:

*'''Pontus Polemoniacus''' was dissolved, with the western part (Polemonium and Neocaesarea) going to Helenopontus, Comana going to the new province of '''[[Roman Armenia|Armenia II]]''', and the rest (Trebizond and Cerasus) joining the new province of '''[[Roman Armenia|Armenia I Magna]]''' with its capital at Justinianopolis.<ref name=Hewsen43/>
*'''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 Shirakatsi|Anania of Shirak]].<ref name=Hewsen47>Hewsen, 47.</ref>

Under the Byzantine Empire, the Pontus came under the [[Armeniac Theme]], with the westernmost parts (Paphlagonia) belonging to the [[Bucellarian Theme]]. Progressively, these large early themes were divided into smaller ones, so that by the late 10th century, the Pontus was divided into the themes of [[Chaldia]], which was governed by the Gabrades family,<ref name=Hewsen47/> and Koloneia. After the 8th century, the area experienced a period of prosperity, which was brought to an end only by the [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuk]] conquest of Asia Minor in the 1070s and 1080s. Restored to the Byzantine Empire by [[Alexios I Komnenos]], the area was governed by effectively semi-autonomous rulers, like the Gabras family of Trebizond.

The region was secured militarily from the 11th through the 15th centuries with a vast network of sophisticated coastal fortresses.<ref>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.</ref>

===Empire of Trebizond===
Following [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|Constantinople's loss of sovereignty]] to the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204, the Pontus retained independence as the [[Empire of Trebizond]] under the [[Komnenos]] dynasty. Through a combination of geographic remoteness and adroit diplomacy, this remnant managed to survive, until it was conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in 1461 after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] itself. This political adroitness included becoming a vassal state at various times to both Georgia and to various inland Turkic rulers. In addition, the Empire of Trebizond became a renowned center of culture under its ruling Komnenos dynasty.<ref name=Hewsen48>Hewsen, 48 f.</ref>

===Ottoman ''vilayet''===
{{Further|Pontic Greeks|Greek genocide}}
{| cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width=250 align="right" rules="all" style="margin: 1em; background: #ffffff; border: 2px solid #aaa; font-size: 100%;"
|- bgcolor=#DDDDDD
| colspan=8 align="center" | Distribution of [[Millet]]s in [[Trebizond Vilayet]]<ref name="Pentzopoulos 2002 29–30">{{cite book | last= Pentzopoulos|first= Dimitri | title= The Balkan exchange of minorities and its impact on Greece | publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers | year=2002|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PDc-WW6YhqEC&q=%22northern+epirus%22%2Bflorence&pg=PA28 | isbn= 978-1-85065-702-6 |pages=29–30}}</ref><br/>
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0 align="center"
!Source
! Muslims
! Greeks
! Armenians
! Total
|-align="center"
| Official Ottoman Statistics, 1910 || 1,047,889<br>72.56% || 351,104<br>24.31% || 45,094<br>3.12% || 1,444,087
|-align="center"
| Ecumenical Patriarchate Statistics, 1912|| 957,866<br>70.33% || 353,533<br>25.96% || 50,624 <br/>3.72%||  1,362,026
|-
|}
[[File:Christians in the Black Sea region (1896).JPG|thumb|left|290x290px|Christian population in 1896]]

Under the subsequent Ottoman rule which began with the fall of [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizond]], particularly starting from the 17th century, some of the region's [[Pontic Greeks]] became Muslim through the [[Devşirme]] system. But at the same time some valleys inhabited by Greeks converted voluntarily, most notably those in the Of valley. Large communities (around 25% of the population) of Christian Pontic Greeks remained throughout the area (including Trabezon and Kars in northeastern Turkey/the Russian Caucasus) until the 1920s, and in parts of Georgia and Armenia until the 1990s, preserving their own customs and [[Pontic Greek|dialect of Greek]]. One group of Islamicized Greeks were called the Kromli, but were suspected of [[Crypto-Christianity|secretly having remained Christians]]. They numbered between 12,000 and 15,000 and lived in villages including Krom, Imera, Livadia, Prdi, Alitinos, Mokhora, and Ligosti.<ref name=Hewsen54>Hewsen, 54.</ref> Many of the Islamized Greeks continued speaking [[Pontic Greek|their language]], known for its [[Pontic Greek#Archaisms|unique preservation of characteristics of Ancient Greek]] and still today there are some in the Of valley that speak the local [[Pontic Greek#Ophitic|Ophitic dialect]].

===Republic of Pontus===
The [[Republic of Pontus]] ({{Langx|el|Δημοκρατία του Πόντου|translit=Dimokratía tou Póntou}}) was a proposed Pontic Greek state on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Its territory would have encompassed much of historical Pontus and today forms part of Turkey's Black Sea Region. The proposed state was discussed at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference of 1919]], but the Greek government of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] feared the precarious position of such a state and so it was included instead in the larger proposed state of Wilsonian Armenia. Neither state came into existence and the Pontic Greek population was subjected to [[Pontic Greek genocide|genocide]] and expelled from Turkey after 1922 and resettled in the Soviet Union or in [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]]. This state of affairs was later formally recognized as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923.

===Present===
{{Main|Black Sea Region}}
[[File:Black Sea Region in Turkey.svg|thumb|The Black Sea Region in today's Turkey]]
[[File:Turkey black sea region.png|thumb|Administrative subdivisions of today's Black Sea Region]]

The '''Black Sea Region''' ({{langx|tr|Karadeniz Bölgesi}}), comprising all or parts of 22&nbsp;provinces, is one of [[Turkey]]'s seven [[Regions of Turkey|census-defined geographical regions]]. It encompasses but is larger than historic Pontus.

==Religion==
Mentioned thrice in the New Testament, inhabitants of Pontus were some of the first converts to [[Christianity]]. {{bibleverse||Acts|2:9|NKJV}} mentions them present in [[Jerusalem]] on the Day of [[Pentecost]]; [[Acts 18:2]] mentions a Jewish tentmaker from Pontus, [[Priscilla and Aquila|Aquila]], who was then living in [[Corinth]] with his wife [[Priscilla and Aquila|Priscilla]], who had both converted to Christianity, and in {{bibleverse|1|Peter|1:1|NKJV}}, [[Peter the Apostle]] addresses the Pontians in his letter as the "elect" and "chosen ones".

As early as the [[First Council of Nicea]], Trebizond had its own bishop. Subsequently, the Bishop of Trebizond was subordinated to the [[Metropolitan Bishop]] of [[Poti]]. Then during the 9th century, Trebizond itself became the seat of the Metropolitan Bishop of [[Lazica]].<ref name=Hewsen46/>

==Notable Pontians==
{{Further|List of Pontic Greeks}}
* [[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.
* [[Strabo]] (c. 64 BC – 24 AD), Greek historian, geographer, and philosopher, native from [[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
* [[Mike Lazaridis]] (b. 1961), CEO of [[Research in Motion]] and creator of [[BlackBerry]] phones
* [[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 ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== General and cited sources ==
* {{citation
 | first=Anthony A. M.
 | last=Bryer
 | title=The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos
 | publisher=Variorum Reprints
 | location=London
 | year=1980
 | isbn=0-86078-062-7
}}
* [[Ramsay MacMullen]], 2000. ''Romanization in the Time of Augustus'' (Yale University Press)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Pontus}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601083455/http://www.karalahana.com/english/archive/history.html History of Pontus]
* [http://pontosworld.com/index.php/pontus/history/articles/291-the-term-euxinus-pontus The term Euxinus Pontus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919235342/http://pontosworld.com/index.php/pontus/history/articles/291-the-term-euxinus-pontus |date=2014-09-19 }}
* [https://archive.today/20130217083843/http://www.sdu.dk/en/Om_SDU/Institutter_centre/Ihks/Forskning/Forskningsprojekter/Where_east_meets_west/Region Where East Meets West]

{{Historical regions of Anatolia}}
{{Roman provinces AD 117}}
{{Late Roman Provinces|state=collapsed}}
{{Ancient Greece topics}}
{{History of Turkey timeline}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pontus (region)| ]]
[[Category:Hellenistic Pontus| ]]
[[Category:Ottoman Pontus| ]]
[[Category:Roman Pontus| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geography]]
[[Category:Historical regions of Anatolia]]
[[Category:History of Amasya Province]]
[[Category:History of Giresun Province]]
[[Category:History of Rize Province]]
[[Category:History of Tokat Province]]
[[Category:History of Trabzon Province]]