|
Greek city of Amisos
in
Pontus
Bronze 22mm (11.09 grams) Struck under
Mithradates
VI the Great circa 105-90 B.C. or
circa 90-85 B.C.
Reference: HGC 7, 239; SNG Black Sea 1212-1217; Sear 3639; B.M.C. 13.18,61
Head of Perseus right, wearing Phrygian helmet.
Pegasus standing left, drinking; in exergue, ΑΜΙΣΟΥ and two monograms.
Amisos was a flourishing Greek city on the Black Sea coast
commanding an important trade route to the south, Amisos was founded in the 6th
century B.C. It was re-settled by Athenians in the following century and they
renamed the place Peiraeus.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
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Authenticity.
In
Greek mythology
,
Perseus, the legendary
founder of Mycenae
and of the
Perseid dynasty
of
Danaans
, was the first
hero. His exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the
founding myths
of the
Twelve Olympians
. Perseus beheaded the
Gorgon
Medusa
and saved
Andromeda
from the sea monster
Cetus
. Perseus was the son of the mortal
Danaë
and the god
Zeus.
Pegasus (Greek
Πήγασος/Pegasos, Latin Pegasus) is one of the best known fantastical
creatures in
Greek mythology
. He is a winged divine horse,
usually white in color. He was sired by
Poseidon
, in his role as horse-god, and foaled
by the Gorgon
Medusa
. He was the brother of
Chrysaor
, born at a single birthing when
his
mother was decapitated by Perseus. Greco-Roman poets write about his ascent to
heaven after his birth and his obeisance to
Zeus, king of the gods, who instructed him to bring lightning and
thunder from Olympus. Friend of the Muses, Pegasus is the creator of
Hippocrene
, the fountain on
Mt. Helicon
. He was captured by the Greek hero
Bellerophon
near the fountain Peirene with the
help of Athena and Poseidon. Pegasus allows the hero to ride him to defeat a
monster, the Chimera, before realizing many other exploits. His rider, however,
falls off his back trying to reach Mount Olympus. Zeus transformed him into the
constellation
Pegasus
and placed him in the sky.
Hypotheses have been proposed regarding its relationship with the
Muses
, the gods
Athena
,
Poseidon
,
Zeus, Apollo
, and the hero
Perseus
.
The symbolism of Pegasus varies with time. Symbol of wisdom and especially of
fame from the Middle Ages until the Renaissance, he became one symbol of the
poetry and the creator of sources in which the poets come to draw inspiration,
particularly in the 19th century. Pegasus is the subject of a very rich
iconography, especially through the ancient Greek pottery and paintings and
sculptures of the Renaissance. Personification of the water, solar myth, or
shaman mount, Carl Jung and his followers have seen in Pegasus a profound
symbolic esoteric in relation to the spiritual energy that allows to access to
the realm of the gods on Mount Olympus.
In the 20th and 21st century, he appeared in movies, in fantasy, in video
games and in role play, where by extension, the term Pegasus is often used to
refer to any winged horse.
|
Mithridates VI |
King of
Kings |
Mithridates VI from the
Musée du Louvre
|
| Reign |
120–63 BC |
| Successor |
Pharnaces II of Pontus
|
| Father |
Mithridates V of Pontus
|
| Mother |
Laodice VI
|
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI (Greek:
Μιθραδάτης),
from Old Persian Mithradatha, “gift of
Mithra
“; 134–63
BC, also known as Mithradates the Great (Megas) and Eupator
Dionysius, was king of
Pontus
and
Armenia Minor
in northern
Anatolia
(now Turkey
)
from about 120–63 BC. Mithridates is remembered as one of the
Roman Republic
’s most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three
of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the
Mithridatic Wars
:
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
,
Lucullus
and Pompey
. He
was also the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.
Ancestry,
family and early life
Mithridates was a prince of
Persian
and Greek
ancestry. He claimed descent from
Cyrus the Great
, from the family of
Darius the Great
, the
Regent
Antipater
and from the generals of
Alexander the Great
and later kings:
Antigonus I Monophthalmus
and
Seleucus I Nicator
.
Mithridates was born in the Pontic city of
Sinope
,
and was raised in the
Kingdom of Pontus
. He was the first son and among the children born to
Laodice VI
and
Mithridates V of Pontus
(reigned 150–120 BC). His father, Mithridates V, was
a prince and the son of the former Pontic Monarchs
Pharnaces I of Pontus
and his wife-cousin
Nysa
. His mother, Laodice VI, was a Seleucid Princess and the daughter of
the Seleucid Monarchs
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
and his wife-sister
Laodice IV
.
Mithridates V was assassinated in about 120 BC in
Sinope
, poisoned by unknown persons at a lavish banquet which he held.
In the will of Mithridates V, he left the Kingdom to the joint rule of Laodice
VI, Mithridates and his younger brother,
Mithridates Chrestus
. Mithridates and his younger brother were both under
aged to rule and their mother retained all power as regent.
Laodice VI’s regency over Pontus was from 120 BC to 116 BC (even perhaps up to
113 BC) and favored Mithridates Chrestus over Mithridates. During his mother’s
regency, he escaped from his mother’s plots against him, and went into hiding.
Mithridates emerged from hiding and returned to Pontus between 116 BC and 113
BC and was hailed King. He removed his mother and brother from the throne,
imprisoning both, and became the sole ruler of Pontus.
Laodice VI died in prison of natural causes. Mithridates Chrestus may have died
in prison from natural causes or was tried for treason and executed.
Mithridates gave both a royal funeral.
Mithridates first married his younger sister
Laodice
, aged 16.
He married her to preserve the purity of their bloodline, and to co-rule over
Pontus, to ensure the succession to his legitimate children, and to solidify his
claim to the throne.
Early reign
Map of the Kingdom of Pontus, Before the reign of Mithridates VI
(dark purple), after his conquests (purple), his conquests in the
first Mithridatic wars (pink), as well as Pontus’ ally the Kingdom
of Armenia (green).
Mithridates entertained ambitions of making his state the dominant power in
the Black Sea
and Anatolia
.
After he subjugated
Colchis
, the
king of Pontus clashed for supremacy in the
Pontic steppe
with the
Scythian
King Palacus
. The most important centres of
Crimea
,
Tauric Chersonesus
and the
Bosporan Kingdom
readily surrendered their independence in return for
Mithridates’ promises to protect them against the Scythians, their ancient
enemies. After several abortive attempts to invade the Crimea, the Scythians and
the allied
Rhoxolanoi
suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Pontic general
Diophantus
and accepted Mithridates as their overlord. The young king then
turned his attention to Anatolia, where Roman power was on the rise. He
contrived to partition
Paphlagonia
and
Galatia
with
King
Nicomedes III of Bithynia
. It soon became clear to Mithridates that
Nicomedes was steering his country into an anti-Pontic alliance with the
expanding Roman Republic. When Mithridates fell out with Nicomedes over control
of Cappadocia
, and defeated him in a series of battles, the latter was
constrained to openly enlist the assistance of Rome. The Romans twice interfered
in the conflict on behalf of Nicomedes (95 – 92 BC), leaving Mithridates, should
he wish to continue the expansion of his kingdom, with little choice other than
to engage in a future Roman-Pontic war.
Mithridatic Wars
The next ruler of Bithynia,
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia
, was a figurehead manipulated by the Romans.
Mithridates plotted to overthrow him, but his attempts failed and Nicomedes IV,
instigated by his Roman advisors, declared war on Pontus. Rome itself was
involved in the
Social War
, a civil war with its Italian allies. Thus, in all of Roman Asia
Province there were only two legions present in Macedonia. These legions
combined with Nicomedes IV’s army to invade Mithridates’ kingdom of Pontus in 89
BC. Mithridates, however, won a decisive victory, scattering the Roman-led
forces. His victorious forces were welcomed throughout Anatolia. The following
year, 88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated a massacre of Roman and Italian settlers
remaining in several Anatolian cities, essentially wiping out the Roman presence
in the region. This episode is known as the Asiatic Vespers.
The Kingdom of Pontus comprised a mixed population in its
Ionian Greek
and Anatolian cities. The royal family moved the capital from
Amasya
to the
Greek city of
Sinope
. Its rulers tried to fully assimilate the potential of their subjects
by showing a Greek face to the Greek world and an Iranian/Anatolian face to the
Eastern world. Whenever the gap between the rulers and their Anatolian subjects
became greater, they would put emphasis on their Persian origins. In this
manner, the royal propaganda claimed heritage both from Persian and Greek
rulers, including
Cyrus the Great
,
Darius I of Persia
,
Alexander the Great
and
Seleucus I Nicator
.
Mithridates too posed as the champion of
Hellenism
, but this was mainly to further his political ambitions; it is no
proof that he felt a mission to promote its extension within his domains.
Whatever his true intentions, the Greek cities (including
Athens
)
defected to the side of Mithridates and welcomed his armies in mainland Greece,
while his fleet besieged the Romans at
Rhodes
.
Neighboring King of Armenia
Tigranes the Great
, established an alliance with Mithridates and married one
of Mithridates’ daughters,
Cleopatra of Pontus
. They would support each other in the coming conflict
with Rome.
The Romans responded by organising a large invasion force to defeat him and
remove him from power.The
First Mithridatic War
, fought between 88 BC and 84 BC, saw
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
force Mithridates VI out of Greece proper. After
victory in several battles, Sulla received news of trouble back in Rome posed by
his enemy
Gaius
Marius
and hurriedly concluded peace talks with Mithridates. As Sulla
returned to Italy
Lucius Licinius Murena
was left in charge of Roman forces in Anatolia. The
lenient peace treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate, allowed
Mithridates VI to recoup his forces. Murena attacked Mithridates in 83 BC,
provoking the
Second Mithridatic War
from 83 BC to 81 BC. Mithridates scored a victory
over Murena’s green forces before peace was again declared by treaty.
When Rome attempted to annex Bithynia (bequested to Rome by its last king)
nearly a decade later, Mithridates VI attacked with an even larger army, leading
to the
Third Mithridatic War
from 73 BC to 63 BC. First
Lucullus
and then Pompey
were sent against Mithridates VI, who surged back to retake his kingdom of
Pontus, but was at last defeated by Pompey. After his defeat by Pompey in 63 BC,
Mithridates VI fled with a small army from Colchis (modern Georgia) over the
Caucasus Mountains to
Crimea
and made
plans to raise yet another army to take on the Romans. His eldest living son,
Machares
,
viceroy of Cimmerian Bosporus, was unwilling to aid his father. Mithridates had
Machares killed, and Mithridates took the throne of the
Bosporan Kingdom
. Mithridates then ordered the conscriptions and
preparations for war. In 63 BC,
Pharnaces II of Pontus
, one of his sons, led a rebellion against his father,
joined by Roman exiles in the core of Mithridates’ Pontic army. Mithridates
withdrew to the citadel in
Panticapaeum
, where he committed suicide. Pompey buried Mithridates in the
rock-cut tombs of his ancestors in Amasya, the old capital of
Pontus
.
Assassination
conspiracy
During the time of the First Mithridatic War, a group of Mithridates’ friends
plotted to kill him. These were Mynnio and Philotimus of Smyrna, and Cleisthenes
and
Asclepiodotus of Lesbos
. Asclepiodotus changed his mind and became an
informant
.
He arranged to have Mithridates hide under a couch to hear the plot against him.
The other
conspirators
were
tortured
and
executed
. However, this was not enough for Mithridates, who also killed all
of the plotters’ families and friends.
Propaganda
Where his ancestors pursued
philhellenism
as a means of attaining respectability and prestige among the
Hellenistic kingdoms, Mithridates VI made use of Hellenism as a political tool.
As protector of Greek cities on the Black Sea and in Asia against barbarism,
Mithridates VI logically became protector of Greece and Greek culture, and would
use this stance in his clashes with Rome.
Strabo mentions that Chersonesus buckled under the pressure of the barbarians
and asked Mithridates VI to become its protector (7.4.3. c.308). The most
impressive symbol of Mithridates VI’s approbation with Greece (Athens in
particular) appears at
Delos
: a
heroon
dedicated to the Pontic king in 102/1 by the Athenian Helianax, a priest of
Poseidon Aisios.
A dedication at Delos
,
by Dicaeus, a priest of
Sarapis
, was made in 94/93 BC on behalf of the Athenians, Romans, and “King
Mithridates Eupator Dionysus.”[16]
Greek styles mixed with Persian elements also abound on official Pontic
coins
– Perseus was favored as an intermediary between both worlds, East and West.
Certainly influenced by
Alexander the Great
, Mithridates VI extended his propaganda from “defender”
of Greece to the “great liberator” of the Greek world as war with
Roman Republic
became inevitable. The Romans were easily translated into
“barbarians”, in the same sense as the
Persian Empire
during the
war with Persia
in the first half of the 5th century BC and during
Alexander’s campaign. How many Greeks genuinely bought into this claim will
never be known. It served its purpose, however. At least partially because of
it, Mithridates VI was able to fight the
First War with Rome
on Greek soil, and maintain the allegiance of Greece.
His campaign for the allegiance of the Greeks was aided in no small part by his
enemy Sulla, who allowed his troops to
sack the
city of Delphi
and plunder many of the city’s most famous treasures to help
finance his military expenses.
Death
When Mithridates VI was at last defeated by Pompey and in danger of capture
by Rome, he is alleged to have attempted
suicide
by
poison; this attempt failed, however, because of his immunity to the poison.
According to Appian’s
Roman History, he then requested his Gaul bodyguard and
friend, Bituitus, to kill him by the sword:
- Mithridates then took out some poison that he always carried next to
his sword, and mixed it. There two of his daughters, who were still girls
growing up together, named Mithridates and Nysa, who had been betrothed to
the kings of [Ptolemaic] Egypt and of Cyprus, asked him to let them have
some of the poison first, and insisted strenuously and prevented him from
drinking it until they had taken some and swallowed it. The drug took effect
on them at once; but upon Mithridates, although he walked around rapidly to
hasten its action, it had no effect, because he had accustomed himself to
other drugs by continually trying them as a means of protection against
poisoners. These are still called the Mithridatic drugs.
- Seeing a certain Bituitus there, an officer of the Gauls, he said to
him, “I have profited much from your right arm against my enemies. I shall
profit from it most of all if you will kill me, and save from the danger of
being led in a Roman triumph one who has been an autocrat so many years, and
the ruler of so great a kingdom, but who is now unable to die by poison
because, like a fool, he has fortified himself against the poison of others.
Although I have kept watch and ward against all the poisons that one takes
with his food, I have not provided against that domestic poison, always the
most dangerous to kings, the treachery of army, children, and friends.”
Bituitus, thus appealed to, rendered the king the service that he desired.
(XVI, §111)
Cassius Dio
Roman History, on the other hand, records his death as
murder:
- Mithridates had tried to make away with himself, and after first
removing his wives and remaining children by poison, he had swallowed all
that was left; yet neither by that means nor by the sword was he able to
perish by his own hands. For the poison, although deadly, did not prevail
over him, since he had inured his constitution to it, taking precautionary
antidotes in large doses every day; and the force of the sword blow was
lessened on account of the weakness of his hand, caused by his age and
present misfortunes, and as a result of taking the poison, whatever it was.
When, therefore, he failed to take his life through his own efforts and
seemed to linger beyond the proper time, those whom he had sent against his
son fell upon him and hastened his end with their swords and spears. Thus
Mithridates, who had experienced the most varied and remarkable fortune, had
not even an ordinary end to his life. For he desired to die, albeit
unwillingly, and though eager to kill himself was unable to do so; but
partly by poison and partly by the sword he was at once self-slain and
murdered by his foes.
(Book 37, chapter 13)
At the behest of Pompey, Mithridates’ body was later buried alongside his
ancestors (in Sinope, Book 37, chapter 14).
Mount Mithridat
in the central
Kerch
and the
town of Yevpatoria
in Crimea commemorate his name.
Mithridates’ antidote
Main article:
Mithridate
In his youth, after the assassination of his father Mithridates V in 120 BC,
Mithridates is said to have lived in the wilderness for seven years, inuring
himself to hardship. While there, and after his accession, he cultivated an
immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses of the same.
He invented a complex “universal antidote” against poisoning; several versions
are described in the literature.
Aulus Cornelius Celsus
gives one in his
De
Medicina
and names it Antidotum Mithridaticum, whence English
mithridate
.
Pliny the Elder’s version comprised 54 ingredients to be placed in a flask and
matured for at least two months. After Mithridates’ death in 63 BC, many
imperial Roman physicians claimed to possess and improve on the original
formula, which they touted as Mithradatium. In keeping with most medical
practices of his era, Mithridates’ anti-poison routines included a religious
component; they were supervised by the Agari, a group of Scythian
shamans
who never left him. Mithridates was reportedly guarded in his sleep
by a horse, a bull, and a stag, which would whinny, bellow, and bleat whenever
anyone approached the royal bed.
Mithridates as
polyglot
In
Pliny the Elder
‘s account of famous
polyglots
, Mithridates could
speak the languages of all
the twenty-two nations he governed.[22]
This reputation led to the use of Mithridates’ name as title in some later works
on comparative linguistics, such as
Conrad Gessner
‘s Mithridates de differentis linguis, (1555), and
Adelung and Vater’s Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde
(1806–1817).
Wives,
mistresses and children
Mithridates VI had wives and mistresses, by whom he had various children. The
names he gave his children are a representation of his Persian, Greek heritage
and of his ancestry.
- First wife,
his sister Laodice
. They were married from 115/113 BC till about 90 BC.
Mithridates with Laodice had various children:
- Sons: Mithridates,
Arcathius
,
Machares
and
Pharnaces II of Pontus
- Daughters:
Cleopatra of Pontus
(sometimes called Cleopatra the Elder to
distinguish her from her sister of the same name) and Drypetina (a
diminutive form of “Drypetis“).
Drypetina was Mithridates VI’s most devoted daughter. Her baby teeth
never fell out, so she had a
double set of teeth
.[24]
- Second wife, the Greek Macedonian Noblewoman,
Monime
.
They were married from about 89/88 BC till 72/71 BC. By whom, he had:
- Daughter:
Athenais
, who married King
Ariobarzanes II of Cappadocia
- Third wife, Greek woman
Berenice of Chios
, married from 86–72/71 BC
- Fourth wife, Greek woman
Stratonice of Pontus
, married from after 86–63 BC
- Fifth wife, unknown
- Sixth wife, Caucasian woman
Hypsicratea
, married from an unknown date to 63 BC
One of his mistresses was the Galatian Celtic Princess
Adobogiona
.
By Adobogiona, Mithridates had two children: a son called
Mithridates I of the Bosporus
and a daughter called Adobogiona.
His sons born from his concubine were Cyrus, Xerxes, Darius,
Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia
, Artaphernes, Oxathres, Phoenix (Mithridates’
son by a mistress of Syrian descent) and Exipodras. His daughters born from his
concubine were Nysa, Eupatra, Cleopatra the Younger, Mithridates and
Orsabaris
.
Nysa and Mithridates, were engaged to the
Egyptian Greek Pharaohs
Ptolemy XII Auletes
and his brother
Ptolemy of Cyprus
.
In 63 BC, when the
Kingdom of Pontus
was annexed by the Roman general
Pompey
the
remaining sisters, wives, mistresses and children of Mithridates VI in Pontus
were put to death. Plutarch writing in his lives (Pompey v.45) states that
Mithridates’ sister and five of his children took part in Pompey’s triumphal
procession on this return to Rome in 61 BC.
The Cappadocian
Greek nobleman
and
high
priest
of the temple-state of
Comana, Cappadocia
Archelaus
had descended from Mithridates VI.
He claimed to be a son of Mithridates VI,
however chronologically Archelaus may have been a maternal grandson of the
Pontic King, who his father was Mithridates VI’s favorite general may have
married one of the daughters of Mithridates VI.
Literature
The poet
A. E.
Housman
alludes to Mithridates’ antidote, also known as
mithridatism
, in the final stanza of his poem
“Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff”
in
A Shropshire Lad
.
- There was a king reigned in the East:
- There, when kings will sit to feast,
- They get their fill before they think
- With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
- He gathered all that springs to birth
- From the many-venomed earth;
- First a little, thence to more,
- He sampled all her killing store;
- And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
- Sate the king when healths went round.
- They put
arsenic
in his meat
- And stared aghast to watch him eat;
- They poured
strychnine
in his cup
- And shook to see him drink it up:
- They shook, they stared as white’s their shirt:
- Them it was their poison hurt.
- –I tell the tale that I heard told.
- Mithridates, he died old.
- –
A. E. Housman
,
A Shropshire Lad
Ralph Waldo Emerson
included his “Mithridates” in his 1847 “Poems”. The
legend also appears in
Alexandre Dumas
‘s novel
The Count of Monte Cristo
. The demise of Mithridates VI is detailed in
the 1673 play
Mithridate
written by
Jean
Racine
. This play is the basis for several 18th century operas including one
of
Mozart’s
earliest, known most commonly by its Italian name,
Mitridate, re di Ponto
(1770). He is the subject of the opera
Mitridate Eupatore
(1707) by
Alessandro Scarlatti
. In
The Grass Crown
, the second in the
Masters of Rome
series,
Colleen McCullough
, the Australian writer, describes in detail the various
aspects of his life – the murder of
Laodice (sister-wife of Mithridates VI of Pontus)
, and the Roman Consul who,
quite alone and surrounded by the Pontic army, ordered Mithridates to leave
Cappadocia immediately and go back to Pontus – which he did.
Wordsworth, amidst casting about for poetic themes in
The Prelude
:
- Sometimes, more sternly moved, I would relate
- How vanquished Mithridates northward passed,
- And, hidden in the cloud of years, became
- Odin, the Father of a race by whom
- Perished the Roman Empire.
- –
William Wordsworth
,
The Prelude
Bk i vv 186 ff
In
Dorothy L. Sayers
‘
Detective Novel
“Strong
Poison“, from 1929, the protagonist,
Lord Peter Wimsey
, refers to Mithridates’ measures to survive poisoning; as
well as
Albert Einstein
‘s theory of
Special Relativity
, when the protagonist warns not to trust someone who
looks straight in your eye, as they’re trying to distract you from seeing
something, “..even the path light travels is bent”.
James
Joyce
alludes to Mithridates’ immunity to poison in his love poem Though
I Thy Mithridates Were.
The Last King is an
historical novel
by
Michael Curtis Ford
about the King and his exploits against the Roman
Republic. Mithridates is a major character in
Poul
Anderson
‘s novel The Golden Slave. Mithridates of Pontus is mentioned
by
E. E. “Doc” Smith
in
Triplanetary
, the first novel of the famous
Lensman
science fiction series. In the story, Mithridates was supposed
to be one of the humans possessed by a member of an evil alien race bent on
remaking human civilization into its own image.
In the novel Mithridates is Dead (Spanish:
Mitrídates ha muerto
),
Ignasi
Ribó
traces parallels between the historical figures of Mithridates and
Osama Bin Laden
. Within a postmodern narrative of the making and unmaking of
history, Ribó suggests that the
September 11 attacks
on the United States closely paralleled the massacre of
Roman citizens in 88 B.C. and prompted similar consequences, namely the
imperialist overstretch of the American and Roman republics respectively.
Furthermore, he suggests that the ensuing
Mithridatic Wars
were one of the key factors in the demise of Rome’s
republican regime, as well as in the spread of the Christian faith in Asia Minor
and eventually throughout the whole Roman Empire. The novel implies that the
current events in the world might have similar unforeseen consequences.
Preceded by
Mithridates V
|
King of Pontus
120–63 BC |
Succeeded by
Pharnaces II
|
Samsun is a
city
in northern
Turkey
, on the coast of the
Black Sea
, with a population of over 1 million.
It is the capital city of
Samsun
Province
and an important
port
. Samsun was founded as the colony
Amisos (alternative spelling Amisus, Eis Amison – meaning to
amisos took the name Samsunta or Samsus (Eis Amison – Samson –
Samsounta) as in Greek + ounta “Greek toponomical suffix”.[1]
) by settlers from
Miletus
in the 7th century BC.
Location of Samsun
Coordinates:
 41°17′N
36°20′E
//
History
Samsun’s original name was Enete (from Hitits.) Samsun’s ideal combination of
fertile ground and shallow waters attracted numerous traders. Greek colonists
settled in the 6th century BC and established a flourishing trade relationship
with the ancient peoples of
Anatolia
. At that time, Samsun was part of the
Greek
colony of Amisus. In the 3rd century BC,
Samsun came under the expanded rule of the
Kingdom of Pontus
. The Kingdom of Pontus had
been part of the empire of
Alexander the Great
. However, the empire was
fractured soon after Alexander’s death in the 4th century BC. At its height, the
kingdom controlled the north of
central Anatolia
and mercantile towns on the
northern Black Sea shores.
The Romans
took over in 47 BC, and were replaced by
the
Byzantines
after the fall of Rome. In 1200
Samsun was captured by the
Seljuks
, to be later taken over by the
İlhanlılar
. Samsun was incorporated into the
network of Genoese trading posts and was taken by the
Ottomans
in the beginning of the 15th century.
Before leaving, the
Genoese
razed the town.
Atatürk founded the Turkish republic movement at Samsun and it served as its
base during the Turkish War of Independence.
For more details on this topic, see
Turkish War of Independence
.
The city is both an
Eastern Orthodox
and a
Roman Catholic
titular see
.
Geography
Samsun is situated between two river deltas which jut into the
Black Sea
. It is located at the end of an
ancient route from
Cappadocia
: the Amisos of antiquity lay
on the headland northwest of the modern city. To Samsun’s west, lies the
Kızılırmak
(“Red River”, the Halys of
antiquity), one of the longest rivers in
Anatolia
and its fertile delta. To the east,
lie the
Yeşilırmak
(“Green River”, the Iris of
antiquity) and its delta.
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