Bithynia and Pontus

Common card · No. 401748

Bithynia and Pontus (Latin: Provincia Bithynia et Pontus; Ancient Greek: Ἐπαρχία Βιθυνίας καὶ Πόντου, romanized: Eparkhía Bithynías kaì Póntou) was the name of a province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the amalgamation of the former kingdoms of Bithynia (made a province by Rome 74 BC) and Pontus (annexed to Bithynia 74 BC). The amalgamation was part of a wider conquest of Anatolia and its reduction to Roman provinces. In 74 BC, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia willed his kingdom to the Romans, whom he hoped would defend it against its old enemy, Pontus. Due to the influence of Julius Caesar, then a young man and a guest-friend of Nicomedes, and an impassioned speech by the deceased king's sister Nysa before the Senate, the gift was accepted. Contemporary Rome was divided into two parties, the Populares, party of the "people," and the Optimates, party of the "best." The guest-friendship had been offered...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Milenioscuro, CC BY-SA 4.0