NikaiaOfBithynia

Bithynia

Adrian Ole Aakre

Bithynia lies in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, between the Propontis and the Bosporus and Mysia to the west, the Euxine to the north, Phrygia and Galatia to the south, and Paphlagonia to the east. Mountains lie to the south. In the Byzantine era the Sangarius River formed the eastern boundary.

When the Younger Pliny governed this province in AD 103-5 he was actually in charge of two provinces, Bithynia and Pontus, for better administrative control.

The chief cities are Chalcedon, Heraclea, Prusa, Nicaea, and the provincial capital Nicomedia.

The province was prosperous because of its extensive fertile valleys, abundant game, coal at Heraclea, good harbors, and the fact that the main imperial road from Thrace to the eastern part of the empire ran though Bithynia. Despite its wealth, Bithynia's finances were always in disorganization and its people discontented.

The inhabitants were of Thracian origin. According to Herodotus and Strabo, the people who lived by the river Strymon, an ancient tribe called the Strymonians, were driven across the Bosporus and settled in Bithynia under the name Bithynians. They wore multi-colored robes fox skins on their heads and used javelins and dirks as their weapons. Neither Alexander the Great nor any of his followers conquered Bithynia; I believe that the Romans valued the ability of the Bithynians to resist conquest by uch a great man.

Early in 74 BC Nicomedes III gave on his deathbed his entire kingdom to Rome. I believe he did this because he wanted stability and protection for his people. He himself had been removed from and restored to the throne three times. The senate immediately declared Bithynia a province.

Mithridates III invaded and conquered Bithynia, Pontus, and several other regions in Asia Minor. In the middle of 74, when the senate heard of Mithridates's action, it sent an army to recover the province. After some years, Pompey took over the command in 67. In 65 he recovered Bithynia and gave it a provincial constitution. He added part of Pontus to Bithynia. Mithridates's capture in 63 BC ended the Third Mithridatean War.

In 29 BC Augustus authorized a provincial temple to Rome and himself at Nicomedia. Zeus, Demeter, Tyche, Isis, and Commodus had just some of the temples in Nicomedia. This city, often called "Greatest Metropoolis, leading city of Bithynia and Pontus," was sacked by Gauls in AD 256-57. Once again it came under the domain of Rome but due to earthquakes