The Kingdom of Pontus or Pontic Empire is a state of Persian origin on the southern coast of the Black Sea.

It is founded by Mithridates I in 291 BCE and lasts until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BCE.

The kingdom grows to its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquers Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia.

After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus is defeated, part of it is incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province Bithynia et Pontus and the eastern half survives as a client kingdom.As the greater part of the kingdom lies within the immense region of Cappadocia, which in early ages extended from the borders of Cilicia to the Euxine (Black Sea), the kingdom as a whole is at first called 'Cappadocia by Pontus' or 'Cappadocia by the Euxine', but afterwards simply "Pontus," the name Cappadocia being henceforth restricted to the southern half of the region previously included under that title.