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Province, 117 CE
Bithynia et Pontus
Senatorial province (proconsul)Capital: NicomediaRoman since 74 BCE
A senatorial province with an odd Trajanic exception: local finances had run so far into debt that around 110 CE Trajan sent his own trusted correspondent, Pliny the Younger, as a special imperial legate to fix it — bypassing the ordinary proconsul entirely. Pliny's surviving letters from the job, and Trajan's terse replies, are the best-documented governorship anywhere in the empire, including the famous exchange asking what to do about local Christians.
Bithynia was willed to Rome by its last king, Nicomedes IV, in 74 BCE; Pompey annexed and joined neighboring Pontus to it in 63 BCE.
11 places on the map
- Nicaea Aqueduct · Aqueduct
- Nicaea City Walls · Wall
- Nicaea Gymnasium · Bath
- Nicaea Lake Harbor · Harbor
- Nicaea Theatre · Theater
- Nicomedia Aqueduct · Aqueduct
- Nicomedia Canal Project · Canal
- Nicomedia Council Hall · Curia
- Nicomedia Forum · Forum
- Nicomedia Temple of Isis · Temple
- Temple of Roma and Augustus · Temple
Sources
- Pliny the Younger, Letters Book 10
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bithynia_and_Pontus
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →