Sinope

Pontus

Sinope, modern Sinop on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey, was founded by Ionian Greek settlers from Miletus and became one of the chief ports of the region. It was the birthplace of Diogenes the Cynic, who was exiled from the city and went on to live in Athens and Corinth, and it later served as capital of the kingdom of Pontus, whose king Mithridates VI Eupator was born and buried there. In the 2nd century CE the city produced the Christian teacher Marcion, said by Epiphanius to be the son of a local bishop, who was excommunicated by the church of Rome around 144. Sinope later passed under Byzantine, Seljuk and Turkish rule.