Anatolia

The area which is now Turkey was divided into several small kingdoms in ancient times.

Pontus

This large kingdom was towards the east of the Euxine or Black Sea. The Greeks established several colonies (Trapezus, Sinope, Amisus), bringing the Hellenic culture to the region in the centuries before Roman domination of the Mediterranean.

The Mithridatid ruling dynasty were of mixed Germanic and Celtic origin with some Persian blood. They intermarried with the Seleucids of Syria and became increasingly Hellenized. Many smaller kingdoms paid tribute to the Pontic kings rather than being directly ruled by them. Mithridates V bought Phrygia from the Roman governor under Mithridates VI the Great, Pontus expanded into neighbouring countries (Cappadocia, Galatia) and made an alliance with Tigranes of Armenia. Mithridates ordered the killing of the Roman and Italian inhabitants of Rome's Asia Province and the country was invaded by Rome in 87 BC.

Male

Female

Rulers

Pergamum

This consisted of the western or Aegean coast and Phrygian hinterland of modern Turkey and several coastal islands (Chios, Lemnos, Lesbos, Samos). The inhabitants were descended from Aeolian, Dorian and Ionian Greek colonists.

It became the Roman Asia Province after King Attalus bequeathed it to Rome in 133 BC despite the claims of his cousins who declared war on Rome but were defeated by Roman forces under Manius Aquillius by 128 BC. Aquillius re-organised the area to form a province, selling Phrygia to Mithridates V of Pontus and taking the money himself.

Rulers

Phrygia

This was one of the wilder Anatolian kingdoms, inland from Bithynia. It was bordered by Paphalgonia to the north, Pisidia to the south and Galatia to the east. It became part of the Attalid empire of Pergamum and was sold to Mithridates V of Pontus by the Roman Proconsul Manius Aquillius after Attalus III left his kingdom to Rome in 133 BC.

Barsaces

Bithynia

This was a rich kingdom in what is now north-western Turkey which controlled the Hellespont, the Tracian Bosphorus and the Propontis. It was bordered by Paphlagonia and Galatia in the east, Phrygia in the south and Mysia in the south-west. The ruling family were of Thracian origin. During the reign of Prusias II, Bithynia was given the title 'Friend and Ally of the People of Rome' which gave it protection against the traditional enemy, Pontus. King Mithridates VI of Pontus laid claim to the area in the late C2nd BC.

Rulers

Cappadocia

A central Anatolian mountain kingdom, Cappadocia was ruled by a dynasty of kings who usually took the title 'Ariarathes'. The kingdoms of Syria to the south and Pontus to the north both wanted control of this fertile kingdom and it was ruled by Pontic puppet kings set up by Mithridates VI of Pontus (who married the daughter of a Cappadocian noble, Gordius) around 100 BC.

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This collection of names compiled by Kate Monk. Copyright January 1997, Kate Monk. Last updated May, 99. Copies may be made for personal use only.

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