Next to Pompeiopolis is the remainder of the inland parts of Paphlagonia as far as Bithynia towards the west. This tract, although small in extent, was governed, a little before our time, by several princes, but their race is extinct; at present it is in possession of the Romans. The parts bordering upon Bithynia are called Timonitis; the country of Gezatorix, [Pg 314]
[CAS. 562] Marmolitis, Sanisene, and Potamia. There was also a Cimiatene, in which was Cimiata, a strong fortress situated at the foot of the mountainous range of the Olgassys. Mithridates, surnamed Ctistes, (or the Founder,) made it his head-quarters when engaged in the conquest of Pontus, and his successors kept possession of it to the time of Mithridates Eupator. The last king of Paphlagonia was Deïotarus,1201 son of Castor, and surnamed Philadelphus, who possessed Gangra,1202 containing the palace of Morzeus, a small town, and a fortress.
42.
Eudoxus, without defining the spot, says, that fossil fish1203 are found in Paphlagonia in dry ground, and in marshy ground also about the lake Ascanius,1204 which is below Cius, but he gives no clear information on the subject.
We have described Paphlagonia bordering upon Pontus; and as the Bithynians border upon the Paphlagonians towards the west, we shall endeavour to describe this region also. We shall then set out again from the Bithynians and the Paphlagonians, and describe the parts of the country next to these nations lying towards the south; they extend as far as the Taurus, and are parallel to Pontus and Cappadocia; for some order and division of this kind are suggested by the nature of the places.