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PonticKingdom

The Kingdom of Pontus at its height: before the reign of Mithridates VI (dark purple), after his early conquests (purple), and his conquests in the first Mithridatic wars (pink).

Pontus (Greek: Πόντος, "Sea") is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The name is first found in Xenophon's Anabasis (c. 370 BC). The extent of the region varied through the ages but generally extended from the borders of Colchis 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, Roman and Byzantine periods. Arguably the most famous is the Kingdom of Pontus or Pontic Empire (281-063 BC). Pontus is sometimes considered as the original home of the Amazons, in ancient Greek mythology and historiography (e. g. by Herodotus and Strabo).

Pontus in "One Touch of Hippolyta"[]

In 1872, Hiram Rowbotham-Finch led archaeological digs in what had once been Pontus. Unknowingly, his actions brought a native of that ancient nation to the United States of America.

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