Kingdom of Pontus

State · 281 BCE – 67 CE · at its largest around 87 BCE

Hellenistic kingdom on the southern Black Sea coast ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty, whose king Mithridates VI fought three wars against Rome.

On its lands while it lasted

Pergamon (801 BCE – 62 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Pontus (281 BCE–62), Kingdom of Pergamon (279 BCE–133 BCE).
Byzantium (c. 667 BCE – c. 329 CE): Greek colony founded by settlers from Megara on the Bosporus; it was refounded by Constantine as Constantinople in 330 CE.
Panticapaeum (601 BCE – 370 CE): Capital of Cimmerian Bosporus (404 BCE–370).
Epicurus (341 BCE – 270 BCE): Philosopher who founded Epicureanism in Athens, teaching that happiness comes from tranquillity, friendship and freedom from fear.
Tigranocerta (c. 326 BCE – c. 428 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Armenia (326 BCE–428).
Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 BCE – 230 BCE): Astronomer who proposed the first known heliocentric model, placing the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the known universe.
Edessa (302 BCE – 1150 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Osroene (63 BCE–214), County of Edessa (1099–1150).
Amasya (c. 281 BCE): Capital of Kingdom of Pontus (281 BCE–183 BCE).
Colossus of Rhodes (280–226 BCE): Bronze statue of the sun god Helios at Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, toppled by an earthquake in 226 BCE.
Winged Victory of Samothrace (c. 190 BCE): Hellenistic marble statue of the goddess Nike alighting on a ship’s prow, found in 1863 at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace; now in the Louvre.
Sinop (c. 183 BCE): Capital of Kingdom of Pontus (183 BCE–63 BCE), Beylik of Isfendiyar (1398–1461).
Pergamon Altar (c. 170 BCE): A monumental altar built at Pergamon under King Eumenes II, with a frieze of gods fighting giants; it was reassembled in Berlin's Pergamon Museum.
Venus de Milo (c. 130 BCE): Hellenistic marble statue, probably of Aphrodite, found on the island of Milos in 1820 and now in the Louvre.
Battle of Carrhae (53 BCE): A Parthian army of horse archers and armoured cavalry destroyed a Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus near Harran, one of Rome's worst defeats.
Paul the Apostle (c. 5 CE – 64 CE): A Jewish-born missionary from Tarsus whose journeys and letters spread Christianity among non-Jews across the eastern Roman Empire.