In the time of the
Hittites, Paphlagonia was inhabited by the
Kashka people, whose exact ethnic relation to the Paphlagonians is uncertain. It seems perhaps that they were related to the people of the adjoining country,
Cappadocia, who were speakers of one of the
Anatolian branch of the
Indo-European languages. Their language would appear, from Strabo's testimony, to have been distinctive. The Paphlagonians were one of the most ancient nations of
Anatolia and were listed among the allies of the Trojans in the
Trojan War (ca. 1200 BC or 1250 BC), where their king
Pylaemenes and his son Harpalion perished (
Iliad, ii. 851–857). According to
Homer and
Livy, a group of Paphlagonians, called the
Enetoi in Greek, were expelled from their homeland during a revolution. With a group of defeated Trojans under the leadership of the Trojan prince Antenor, they emigrated to the northern end of the
Adriatic coast and later merged with indigenous
Euganei, giving the name
Venetia to the area they settled. Paphlagonians were mentioned by
Herodotus among the peoples conquered by
Croesus, and they sent an important contingent to the army of
Xerxes in 480 BC.
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. All these rulers appear to have borne the name
Pylaimenes as a sign that they claimed descent from the chieftain of that name who figures in the
Iliad as leader of the Paphlagonians.
Under the Kingdom of Pontus 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 with
Cappadocia and
Mysia, to
Eumenes. However, it continued to be governed by native princes until it was absorbed by the encroaching power of
Pontus. The rulers of that dynasty became masters of the greater part of Paphlagonia as early as the reign of
Mithridates Ctistes (302–266 BC), but it was not until 183 BC that
Pharnaces reduced the
Greek city of
Sinope under their control. From that time, the whole province was incorporated into the
kingdom of Pontus until the fall of
Mithridates (65 BC).
Roman and Byzantine empires Pompey united the coastal districts of Paphlagonia, along with the greater part of Pontus, with the Roman province of
Bithynia et Pontus, but left the interior of the country under the native princes, until the dynasty became extinct and the whole country was incorporated into the
Roman Empire. The name was still retained by geographers, though its boundaries are not distinctly defined by the geographer Claudius
Ptolemy. Paphlagonia reappeared as a separate province in the 5th century AD (
Hierocles,
Synecdemus c. 33). In the 7th century it became part of the
theme of
Opsikion, and later of the
Bucellarian Theme, before being split off c. 820 to form a
separate province once again. Under the Byzantine Empire, Greeks often disparaged Paphlagonians as crooks, particularly in the 10th to 12th centuries. During this period, the high profile of Paphlagonians in positions of power, such as court eunuchs, often attracted backlash from the rest of society. == Notable people ==