Pontus

Pontus, a name given to a district in the N.E. of Asia Minor on account of its proximity to the Euxine. Originally part of Cappadocia, it became a separate satrapy, and was finally erected into a kingdom by Ariobarzanes early in the 4th century B.C. Pontus next became a Roman province in 60 B.C., on the defeat of Mithradates. The western half and the coast from Trebizond to the mouth of the Halys were fertile and civilised.