Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Paphlagonia was an ancient
area on the northern central Black Sea coast of Anatolia,
situated between Bithynia and Pontus, separated from Galatia by
a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus. According
to Strabo, the river Parthenius fromed the western limit of the
region, which was bounded on the east by the Halys river.
Although the Pahplagonians play scarcely any part in history,
they were one of the most ancient nations of Anatolia (_Iliad_,
ii. 85). They were mentioned by Herodotus among the peoples
conquered by Croesus and they sent an important contingent to
the army of Xerxes in 480 BCE. Xenophon speaks of them as being
governed by a prince of their own, without any reference to the
neighboring satraps, a freedom perhaps due to the nature of
their country, with its lofty mountain ranges and difficult
passes. At a later period, Paphlagonia passed under the control
of the Macedonian kings and, after the death of Alexander the
Great, it was assigned, together w