ABSTRACT
Western Asia was well known, a region of a complex mixture of cultures that extended from the Aegean to India. The eastern boundary of the map was more problematic. The Euphrates River defined much of it, but was not available at the northern and southern extremities. The northwestern corner of Anatolia was the province of Pontos and Bithynia. Ptolemy’s Pontos and Bithynia is bounded on the north by the Black Sea, and the Bosporos and Propontis on the west. Southeast of the province of Asia, on the Mediterranean coast, was Lykia. Ptolemy’s Lykia was a small region with the province of Asia to its west and north, and Pamphylia on the east, which was separated from Lykia by the Masikytos Mountains, running north from the coast. Ptolemy’s province is a north-south strip between Pontos and Bithynia and Asia on the west and the province of Cappadocia on the east.
