Pontus (; , "sea") is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the
Black Sea, located in modern-day eastern
Black Sea Region of
Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region and its mountainous hinterland (rising to the
Pontic Alps in the east) in
antiquity by the
Greeks who colonized the area and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος Εὔξεινος
Pontos Euxeinos ("Hospitable Sea"), or simply
Pontos. Having originally no specific name, the region east of the river
Halys was spoken of as the country Ἐν Πόντῳ
En Pontōi, "on the [Euxeinos] Pontos", and hence it acquired the name of Pontus, which is first found in
Xenophon's
Anabasis. The extent of the region varied through the ages but generally extended from the borders of
Colchis (modern
Georgia) until well into
Paphlagonia in the west, with varying amounts of
hinterland. Several states and provinces bearing the name of Pontus or variants thereof were established in the region in the Hellenistic,
Roman and
Byzantine periods, culminating in the late Byzantine
Empire of Trebizond. Pontus is sometimes considered as the home of the
Amazons, with the name Amazon used not only for a city (
Amasya) but for all of Pontus in
Greek mythology.
