PONTUS
24;
Tlie eschatolopy is conlined to the resurrection of the dead (ii. 2, v. 2, vii. 1), to tlie judj^ment of the living; and the dead hy tlie Christ wlio comes, 5s ^PXfToi (ii. 1 : cf. vi. 2, vii. 1, xi. 2), to the reward of the just in lieaven (v. 2, ix. 2).
Tlie Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippian.s closes with the mention of Crescens, whom I'oly- carp presents as the bearer of the letter ; and whom he recommends, as well as his sister, to the hospitable reception of the faithful of Philippi.
In the editiiins of Zaliii (p. 171 f.) and Liglitfiiot (pt. ii. vol. iii. |i. 421 f.) will be found five Latin fra<;ments attributed to Polycarp : they were hrst published hy the editor ot IreniBus, Feuardent (1639), who found them in a group now lost, which itself gave them as quoted in Victor of Capua (t 554). Supposing that these five fragments of scholia on the Gospels are ancient (3rd cent. ?), they show no sign that Polycarp was the author of them (Harnack, Ueberlicferung, J). 73).
Suidas (Lexicon, s.v. no\vKapiros, ed. G. Bern- hardy, Halle and Brunswick, 1834-1893, ii. 345) mentions a letter of Polycarp to Dionysius the Areopagite, of which there is no other trace. Maxi- mus the confessor, in the prologue of his comment- ary on the Arcopaqitica, also mentions a letter of Polycarp to the Athenians in which he speaks of Dionysius (PG iv. 17). Lastly, the seventh of the ten letters of pseudo-Dionysius is addressed to Polycarp. We need not dwell here on the value of the Areopagitica and all that may be connected with it (Harnack, Ueberlieferting, p. 73).
LiTRRATiiRK. — The chief references are f^^iven in the course of the article. For treneral bibliography see O. Bardenhewer, Gef'ch. der altkirchl. Litteratur, i.2 [Freiburg i. B., 1913]. Critical editions : T. Zabn, ' Ignatii et Polycarpi Epistuls,' in PatTum apostoUcorum opera, ii. [Leipzig, 1876) ; F. X. Funk, Opera patnnn apostoHcortnn, Tubingen, 1878 and 1901 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii.2, London, 1889. See also the elementary edition of A. Lelong, Ignace d'Autioehe, et Poly- carpe de Smyrne, Paris, 1910 (Cr. text, Fr. tr., Introductioii, and notes on Ep. ad Phil, and Martyrium Polycarpi).
P. Batiffol. POLYGAMY.-See Marriage.
PONTUS (ni^ros). — To early Greek writers, Pontus vaguely denoted any coastland of the ' In- hosjiitable Sea ' — U-dfros d^evos, afterwards changed into IIiicTos ei'Jeivos— beyond the Bosporus. To Herodotus (vii. 95) it meant the southern littoral of the Euxine, and to Xenophon (Anab. V. vi. 15) the south-eastern. It had not a definite geo- graphical meaning till the founding of the kingdom of Pontus by Mithridates in the troubled period which followed the death of Alexander the Great.
' The M.acedonians obtained possession of Cappadocia after it had been divided by the Persi.ans into two satrapies, and per- mitted, partly with and partly without the consent of the people, the satrapies to be altered to two kingdoms, one of which they called Cappadocia proper, . . . the other they called Pontus, but according to other writers Cappadocia on Pontus ' (^ Trpbs Tw nofTCf, KaJnrafioKca) (Strabo, XII. i. 4). Polybius names the kingdon'i * Cappadocia towards the Euxine ' (KaTTTraSoicia 17 Trepi rov Ei'feirov) (V, xliii. 1). In popular usage the single word Pontus displaced the more cumtirous nomen- clature.
This kingdom attained its greatest prosperity and power in the reign of Mithridates IV. Eupator (111-63 B.C.), who extended it to Heracleia on the border of Bithynia in the west and to Colchis and Les.ser Armenia in the east (Strabo, XII. iii. 1) ; but his wars with the Romans ended in his over- throw. The w^estern part of his kingdom was joined to Bithynia to form the double province Pontus -Bithynia, which existed for three cen- turies. Tlie eastern part was broken up into po.ssessions for a number of native dynasts, and one of the larger fragments passed in 36 B.C. from the family of Mithridates to Polemon of Laodicea, the founder of a new dynasty of Pontic kings, which lasted till A.D. 63. Other portions were added one by one to the province of Galatia, forming together
Pontus GalaticuK, whose chief towns were Amasia and Comana. In A.D. 63 the Koinans, thinking that Polemon's vassal kingdom had become civil- ized enough to be incorporated in the Empire, added part of it, including the cities of Tra[iezus and Neo-Casarea, to the ])rovince of Galatia as Pontus Polemoiuiicus, a name which it retainc<l for centuries. Polemon II. was consoled for his loss by receiving the kingdom of Cilicia Tracheia, and he afterwards marrieil Berenice (q.v.), the sister of Ilerod Agrippa. Still another fragment of the old kingdom of Pontus was added to the province of Cappadocia, and called Pontus Ca])iia- docicus. From A.D. 78-106 the provinces of Galatia and Cappadocia were united for administrative purposes. When they were seiiaratcd again by Trajan, Pontus Galaticus and I^ontus Polemonaicus were permanently joined to Capiiadocia.
Philo (Leg. ad Gauim, 36) testilies that in his time the Jews had jienetrated S^P' H'9i"'lo! tai tCiv Tov WovTov iivxCi". Pontus stands in the list of countries from which Jews and proselytes came to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of Pentecost (Ac 2"). As the geographical names in this list have their popular rather than their Imperial meaning, Pontus may either denote the province of Pontus alone, or may include Galatic and Polemonian Pontus ; but Polemon's kingdom was scarcely settled enough to be likely to attract Jewish colonists. 'The elect who are strangers of the Dispersion in Pontus ' are named as the readers of the First Epistle of St. Peter (1'), and here the language is strictly Roman, for the tliree provinces Galatia, Capjiadocia, and Asia, together with the dual province Pontus- Bithynia, are meant to sum up the whole of Asia Minor north of the Taurus. The severance in this pas.'iage of Pontus from Bithynia, as well as the ord^r in which the provinces are named, requires an explanation, and the best has been suggested by G. H. A. Ewald (Sieben Sendschreibun des neuen Bundes, 1870, p. 2f.). The order indicated is that of an actual journey, which the bearer of the Epistle — probably Silvanus, the amanuensis (1 P 5'-) — is about to undertake. Landing atone of the seaports of Pontus (Siuope or Amisus) he will make a circuit of Galatia, Cappadocia, and Asia, and work his way through Bithynia to another port of the Euxine (cf. F. J. A. Hort, Tlie First Epistle of St. Peter, I. l-II. 17, 1898, p. 17).