Sinop is the northernmost city of Asia Minor (now Turkey)

Modern Sinop is built over the ancient city on a peninsula that extends into the Black Sea. We drove toward the northern tip of the peninsula until we came to a military installation. The photo below shows a portion of the acropolis on the left. This is the northern-most land in Turkey, and the narrowest portion of the Black Sea. The sky reflects the fact that it was raining the day we visited the city.

Sinop on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey. A portion of the ancient acropolis can be seen on the left of the photo. It is now part of a military camp. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The history of Sinop is said to date back as early as the Chalcolithic Period (about 4200 B.C.). In the 8th century B.C. colonists from Miletus established a post and a naval station here. In the centuries to follow the city came under Persian control. After Alexander the Great came into Asia Minor, Sinop declared its independence from the Persians. The city was made the capital of the kingdom of Pontus by Mithridates III in 183 B.C.

Mithridates the VI Eupator and his son, the king of Armenia, were defeated by the Romans in 69 and 68 B.C. By 63 B.C. Pompey formally annexed the city (Bernard McDonagh, Blue Guide Turkey).

Sinop was one of the cities of the Roman province of Pontus in New Testament times (Acts 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1). Wilson says,

Sinope was a certain stop in Pontus for the messenger carrying Peter’s first letter. (Biblical Turkey, 342).

We will point out later that it was common for the military, and others, to travel by sea to Sinop and then to Samsun. See the map in the previous post.

In the next post I plan to talk about famous persons associated with Sinop.