Pontormo, Jacopo da (or Jacopo Carrucci), a
distinguished Florentine painter, was born at Pontormo in 149.!. He was a short time the pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, and studied under Albertinelli, Pictro di Cosi- mo, and Andrea del Sarto. He painted for some time in a similar style to Andrea, and was that painter's rival ; but he frecmently changed his manner, and three distinct styles are ascribed to him, the last imitated from the works of Albert D'urer. Towards the close of his life he spent eleven years in painting some frescos of the Belnge and the Last Judgment in the church of San Lorenzo, in the manner of the imitators of Michael Angelo, but they have long since been washed over. He died at Florence in 1558.
Pon'tus (Uorrog, the sea), a large district in the north of Asia Minor, extending along the coast of the Pontus Euxinus, from which circumstance the name was derived. It is mentioned in the New Testament as furnishing a portion of that audience which listened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii, 9), as the birthplace of Aquila_(xviii, 2), and as one of the dis- tricts through which " the strangers" addressed by Pe- ter in his first epistle " were scattered abroad" (1 Pet. i, 1). All these passages agree in showing that there were many Jewish residents in the district. The term Pontus signified a country of very various extent at dif- ferent times, and while the boundaries of all the prov- inces of Asia Minor were continually shifting, none were more affected by the changes of the times than those of Pontus. In the earlier period of its history it was merely a province of Cappadocia, which then extended from Mount Taurus to the Euxine; and tradition states that the petty kingdoms of which it was composed were subdued and consolidated by Ninus. It then fell under the alternate dominion of the Medes and Persians, the latter of whom divided it into satrapies; and in the reign of Darius Hystaspis the country of Pontus was
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bestowed by that prince on Artabazes, .1 member of his own family, who henceforth assumed the title of king of Pontus, and was the ancestor of a long line of princes rescued from oblivion by the genius, the crimes, ami the vicissitudes <>t Mithridates VII, sometimes called "the 1 Sreat." The kingdom of Artabazes was comprised between 11 and 13 N. lat., and between •';"> ami 42 E. long. ; and was bounded on the north bythe Euxine, on the south by Armenia Minor, on the < asl by < 'nidi is. and on the wot by the river Halys. The inhabitants were a bold, active, and warlike race, and in the r< ign of Ariobarzanes they shook off the yoke of Persia, to whose sovereigns their own had from the time of Artabazes been tributary, and established the complete indepen- dence ol their country, from this period the kingdom ni' Pontus prospered. Its monarchs gradually added to
their d tnions the whole ofCappadocia and Paphla-
gonia and a large pari of Bithynia, thus dividing Asia Minor with the Attalian dynasty, which ruled .-it Per- gamos. Mithridates \'I formed an alliance with the Romans, senl a fleel to aid them in their wars against
Carthage, and when, on the death of Attains, who left
his kingdom of Pergamos to the R an people, Ariston-
ieus contested the legacy, and attempted to make him- self king of Pergamos, Mithridates espoused the cause of Komi', and aided in driving the usurper out of Asia. The policy of this able prince was reversed by his .son and successor. .Mithridates VII ascended the throne at
the age of eleven years, and early began a career of en- mity towards the Romans, the ultimate result of which
was the entire subjugation of the country over which
lie ruled, and its reduction to the condition of a Human province. Mithridates did. however, succeed so far as to make himself master of all Lesser Asia and of many of the adjacent islands. At Cos he plundered the .lews of a large sum of money, lie annexed Athens it- self to his kingdom, while his son Ariarathes overcame Macedonia and Thrace. At this period of his reign he was the master of twenty-five nations; and so great were bis accomplishments as a linguist, that he is said to have been aide to converse with the natives of all
without the aid ol an interpreter. He determined ut- terly to root out the Roman dominion from Asia, and in order to compromise the inhabitants of the country be-
v 1 the possibility of return, he issue. 1 orders that on
a certain day throughout his dominions every Roman should he put to death, not excepting <v 'it women and children. This atrocious decree, which has covered the name of Mithridates with infamy, was carried out. and the number of persons who perished in the massacre i- variously estimated at from eighty to one hundred and sixty thousand. from this lime his real power began
to decline; ami after a romantic series of vicissitudes he was kilkd at his own request in the Beventy-first year ol hi- age, B.I !.64. After the death of Mithridates. hi- -on Pharnaces submitted to the Romans, lie was made king of Bosphorus, and proclaimed the ally of Rome; but after the return of Pompey he regained his hereditary kingdom, and ventured to oppose the Ro- mans with as much obstinacy as his father, hut with ]e-s success. Julius Ctesar inarched against him -.ml