pontus

Pontus is a term used for a historical region along the southern shores of the Black Sea in northeastern Anatolia, corresponding roughly to parts of present-day eastern Turkey. The name derives from the Greek Pontos and has been used in ancient, medieval, and modern references to describe the coastal area and its hinterland. The terrain includes rugged coastline, the Pontic Mountains, and a history of diverse settlement, including Greek-speaking communities known as Pontic Greeks.

In antiquity, Pontus encompassed parts of the eastern Black Sea littoral and adjacent interior regions. The Kingdom of Pontus, established in the Hellenistic period, reached its zenith under Mithridates VI Eupator and conducted campaigns across inland Asia Minor, expanding into the Pontic realm and contesting Rome in the Mithridatic Wars. Following his defeat, the kingdom was dissolved and its lands were absorbed into the Roman Empire, later organized administratively as the province of Bithynia et Pontus or similar eastern provincial arrangements.

In Greek mythology, Pontus is the personification or primordial deity of the sea. He is associated with the vast, primordial waters and, in some sources, is described as the progenitor of other sea deities alongside Gaia. The mythic figure of Pontus is used to symbolize the sea’s vastness and its ancient, foundational role in Greek cosmology.