Listed 11 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "PAFLAGONIA Ancient country TURKEY" .
ERYTHINI (Ancient city) TURKEY
Erythini (Eruthinoi), a place on the coast of Paphlagonia, mentioned
in the Homeric poems (Il. ii. 855). It has been supposed, however, that the whole
of the passage on the Paphlagonians and their towns was an interpolation of later
times, and that the old poet was unacquainted with the Euxine and its coasts.
(Schlegel, de Geogr. Hom. p. 135; Broska, de Geogr. Myth. p. 58.) Strabo (xi.
p. 545) fixed the position of the town upon two rocks, called, from their colour,
Eruthrinoi. (Comp. Anon. Peripl. p. 6.) It was situated 90 stadia E. of Amastris,
and 60 stadia N. of Cromna.
GANGRA (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
Gangra (Gangra: Kiengareh, Kangreh, or Changeri), a town of Paphlagonia,
to the south of Mount Olgasys, and at a distance of 35 miles from Pompeiopolis,
appears to have been a princely residence, for we know that Morzus or Morzeus,
and afterwards Deiotarus, the last king of Paphlagonia, resided there. (Strab.
xii. p. 564; comp. Liv. xxxviii. 26.) Strabo, notwithstanding this, describes
it as only a small town and a garrison. According to Alexander Polyhistor (ap.
Steph. B. s. v. Gangra), the town was built by a goatherd who had found one of
his goats straying there; but this is probably a mere philological speculation,
gangra signifying a goat in the Paphlagonian language. In the ecclesiastical writers
Gangra is often mentioned as the metropolitan see of Paphlagonia. (Socrat. ii.
43; Sozom. iii. 14, and elsewhere.) The orchards of this town were celebrated
for the excellence of their apples. (Athen. iii. p. 82.)
PAFLAGONIA (Ancient country) TURKEY
Paphlagonia (Paphlagonia: Eth. Paphlagon), a country in the north
of Asia Minor, bordering in the west on Bithynia, in the east on Pontus, and in
the south on Galatia, while the north is washed by the Euxine. The river Parthenius
in the west divided it from Bithynia, the Halys in the east from Pontus, and Mount
Olgassys in the south from Galatia. (Hecat. Fragm. 140; Scylax, p. 34; Strab.
xii. pp. 544, 563; Agathem. ii. 6.) But in the case of this, as of other countries
of Asia Minor, the boundaries are somewhat fluctuating. Strabo, for example, when
saying that Paphlagonia also bordered on Phrygia in the south, was most probably
thinking of those earlier times when the Galatians had not yet established themselves
in Phrygia. Pliny (vi. 2) again includes Amisus beyond the Halys in Paphlagonia,
while Mela (i. 19) regards Sinope, on the west of the Halys, as a city of Pontus.
It is probable, however, that in early times the Paphlagonians occupied, besides
Paphlagonia proper, a considerable tract of country on the east of the Halys,
perhaps as far as Themiscyra or even Cape Iasonium (Xenoph. Anab. v. 6. § 1; Strab.
xii. p. 548), and that the Halys did not become the permanent boundary until the
consolidation of the kingdom of Pontus. The whole length of the country from west
to east amounted to about 40 geographical miles, and its extent from north to
south about 20. Paphlagonia was on the whole a some-what rough and mountainous
country, Mount Olgassys sending forth its ramifications to the north, sometimes
even as far as the coast of the Euxine; but the northern part nevertheless contains
extensive and fertile plains. (Xenoph. Anab. v. 6. § 6, foll.; comp. Strab. xii.
p. 543; Pococke, Travels, iii. p. 138.) The Olgassys is the chief mountain of
Paphlagonia. Its numerous branches are not distinguished by any special names,
except the Scorobas and Cytorus Its most remarkable promontories are Carambis
and Syrias; its rivers, with the exception of the Halys, are but small and have
short courses, as the Sesamus, Ochosbanes, Evarchus, Zalecus, and Amnias. The
fertility was not the same in all parts of the country, for the northern plains
were not inferior in this respect to other parts of Asia Minor, and were even
rich in olive plantations (Strab. xii. p.546)) but the southern, or more mountinous
parts, were rough and unproductive, though distinguished for their large forests.
Paphlagonian horses were celebrated in the earliest times (Hom. II. ii. 281, foll.);
the mules and antelopes (dorkades) were likewise highly prized. In some parts
sheep-breeding was carried on to a considerable extent, while the chase was one
of the favourite pursuits of all the Paphlagonians. (Strab. xii. p. 547; Liv.
xxxviii. 18.) Stories are related by the ancients according to which fish were
dug out of the earth in Paphlagonia. (Strab. xii. p. 562; Athen. viii. p. 331.)
The forests in the south furnished abundance of timber, and the boxus of Mount
Cotyrus was celebrated. (Theophr. H. P. iii. 15; Plin. xvi. 16; Catull. iv. 13;
Val. Flacc. v. 16.) Of mineral products we hear little except that a kind of red
chalk was found in abundance.
The name Paphlagonia is derived in the legends from Paphlagon, a soil
of Phineus. (Eustath. ad Hom. Il. ii. 851, ad Dion. Per. 787; Steph. B. s. v.;
Const. Porph. de Them. i. 7.) Some modern antiquaries have had recourse to the
Semitic languages to find the etymology and meaning of the name; but no certain
results can be obtained. An, ancient name of the country is' said to have been
Pylaemenia (Plin. vi. 2; Justin, xxxvii. 4), because the Paphlagonian princes
pretended to be descendants of Pylaemnenes, the leader of the Paphlagonian Heneti
(Hom. II. xi. 851) in the Trojan War, after whom they also called themselves Pylaemenes.
The Paphlagonians, who are spoken of even in the Homeric poems (Ii.
ii. 851, v. 577, xiii. 656, 661), appear, like the Leucosyri on that coast, to
have been of Syrian origin, and therefore to have belonged to the same stock as
the Cappadocians. (Herod. i. 72, ii. 104 ; Plut. Lucull. 23; Eustath. ad Dionys.
Per. 72.) They widely differed in their language and manners from their Thracian
and Celtic neighbours. Their language, of which Strabo (xii. p. 552) enumerates
some proper names, had to some extent been adopted by the inhabitants of the eastern
bank of the Halys. Their armour consisted of a peculiar kind of helmets made of
wickerwork, small shields, long, spears, javelins, and daggers. (Herod. vii. 72;
Xenoph. Anab. v. 2. § 28, 4. § 13.) Their cavalry was very celebrated on account
of their excellent horses. (Xenoph. Anab. v. 6. § 8.) The Paphlagonians are described
by the ancients as a superstitious, silly, and coarse people, though this seems
to apply to the inhabitants of the interior more than to those of the coast. (Xenoph.
Anab. v. 9. § 6; Aristoph. Eq. 2, 65, 102, 110; Lucian, Alex. 9. foill.) Besides
the Paphlagonians proper and the Greek colonists on the coast, we hear of the
Heneti and Macrones, concerning whose nationality nothing is known: they may accordingly
have been subdivisions of the Paphlagonians themselves, or they may have been
foreign immigrants.
Until the time of Croesus, the country was governed by native independent
princes, but that king made Paphlagonia a part of his empire. (Herod. i. 28.)
On the conquest of Lydia by Cyrus, the Paphlagonians were incorporated with the
Persian empire, in which they formed a part of the third satrapy. (Herod. iii.
90.) But at that great distance from the seat of the government, the satraps found
it easy to assert their independence; and independent Paphlagonian kings are accordingly
mentioned as early as the time of Xenophon (Anab. v. 6. § 3, 9. § 2). In the time
of Alexander the Great, whose expedition did not touch those northern parts, kings
of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia are still mentioned. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 4. § 1;
iii. 8. § 5 ; Diod. Sic. xviii. 16.) But this independence, though it may have
been merely nominal, ceased soon after, and Paphlagonia and Cappadocia fell to
the share of Eumenes. (Diod. Sic. xviii. 3; Justin, xiii. 4, 16.) After Eumenes'
death, it was again governed by native princes, until in the end it was incorporated
with the kingdom of Pontus by Mithridates. (Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 72, ed. Bekker;
Diod. Eclog. xxxi. 3: Justin, xxxvii. 1; Strab. xii. p. 540; Appian, Mithrid.
11, 12.) Mithridates, however, soon afterwards divided Paphlagonia with his neighbour
Nicomedes, who made his son, under the name of Palaemenes,, king of Paphlagonia.
(Justin, xxxvii. 3, 4.) After the conquest of Mithridates, the Romans united the
coast districts of Paphlagonia with Bithynia, but the interior was again governed
by native princes (Strab. l. c.; Appian, B.C. ii. 71; Plut. Pomp. 73); and when
their race became extinct, the Romans incorporated the whole with their empire,
and thence-forth Paphlagonia formed a part of the province of Galatia. (Strab.
vi. p. 288, xii. pp. 541, 562.) In the new division of the empire in the fourth
century, Paphlagonia became a separate province, only the easternmost part being
cut off and added to Pontus. (Hierocl. pp. 695, 701.) The principal coast towns
were Amastris, Erythini, Cromna, Cytorus, Aegialus, Abonitichos, Cimolis, Stephane,
Potami, Armene, Sinope, and Carusa. The whole of the interior of the country was
divided, according to Strabo, into nine districts, viz. Blaene, Domanetis, Pimolisene,
Cimiatene, Timonitis, Gezatorigus, Marmolitis, Sanisene, and Potamia. The interior
contained only few towns, such as Pompeiopolis, Gangra, and some mountain fortresses.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Olgassys (Olgassus), a lofty and inaccessible mountain on the frontiers of Paphlagonia and Galatia, extending from the Halys in a south-western direction towards the Sangarius, and containing the sources of the Parthenius. The surrounding country was filled with temples erected by the Paphlagonians. (Strab. xii. p. 562.) The mountain mentioned by Ptolemy (v. 4. § 4) under the name of Ligas, Gigas, or Oligas, is probably the same as the Olgassys of Strabo. It still bears its ancient name in the corrupt form of Ulgaz, and modern travellers state that; some parts of the mountain are covered with snow nearly all the year.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GANGRA (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
A city of Paphlagonia, near the borders of Galatia. In the time of King Deiotarus it was a royal residence, and under the Empire, the capital of Paphlagonia.
KYTOROS (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
(Kutoron). A city of Paphlagonia, on the coast between the promontory
Carambis and Amastris. It was a Greek town of great antiquity, since Homer alludes
to it (Il. ii. 853), and it is thought to have been founded by a colony of Milesians.
According to Strabo, it had been a port of the inhabitants of Sinope. In its vicinity
was a mountain, named Cytorus, which produced a beautifully veined species of
box-tree. It is now Kidros.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PAFLAGONIA (Ancient country) TURKEY
A country of Asia Minor, bounded by Bithynia on the west, by
Pontus on the east, by Phrygia and afterwards by Galatia on the south, and by
the Euxine on the north. In the Trojan War the Paphlagonians are said to have
come to the assistance of the Trojans, from the land of the Heneti, under the
command of Pylaemenes. The Paphlagonians were subdued by Croesus, and afterwards
formed part of the Persian Empire. Under the Romans, Paphlagonia formed part of
the province of Galatia, but it was made a separate province by Constantine. The
principal rivers were the Halys, the Sesamus, the Ochosbanes, the Evarchus, the
Zalecus, and the Amnius. The principal cities (mostly on the coast) were Amastris,
Cromna, Aegealius, Abonitichos, Cimolis, Stephane, Potami, Sinope, Pompeiopolis,
and Gangra.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KROMNA (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
Total results on 21/9/2001: 4
KYTOROS (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
Total results on 21/9/2001: 15
EGIALOS (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
It was located close to the city of Sinope and the Mt. Cytorus.
SORA (Ancient city) PAFLAGONIA
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