Note 391 — LIFE OF LUCULLUS.

Bacchides, according to Strabo, commanded in the city. Sinope is described by Strabo (p. 545) as one of the chief towns of Asia in his day. It was a Milesian colony. It was the birth-place of this Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, who made it his capital. It was situated on an isthmus which joined the mainland to the Chersonesus (peninsula) which is mentioned by Plutarch in this chapter. There were harbours and stations for ships on each side of the isthmus. The present condition of the town is described by Hamilton (Researches, i. 306, &c.): "The population and prosperity of Sinope are not such as might be expected in a place affording such a safe harbour between Constantinople and Trebizond. I observed also a general appearance of poverty and privation throughout the peninsula."

In Strabo's time Sinope had received a Roman colony, and the colonists had part of the city and of the territory. The word Colonia in Greek (κολονεια) appears on a sarcophagus which was seen by Hamilton in a small village near Sinope.