Paphlagonia

Ancient district in northern Asia Minor, on the south shore of the Black Sea between Bithynia and Pontus.

Paphlagonia was subject successively to Lydia, Persia, Alexander the Great of Macedonia, and the Seleucids (of Syria), but it was governed by local princes until gradually absorbed into the kingdom of Pontus about 300-183 BC. The Roman military leader Pompey restored the inland parts to indigenous rulers, but joined the coastal regions to the province of Bithynia. Under the Roman empire the whole of Paphlagonia, together with most of Pontus, formed the single province of Pontus-Bithynia but it was made a separate province by the emperor Constantine the Great.

Paphlagonia was largely mountainous, but there were fertile plains in the north which were rich in olive plantations. The country exported horses and mules, and the forests in the south provided timber.