Bithynia is named for the Thracian tribe of the
Bithyni, mentioned by
Herodotus (VII.75) alongside the
Thyni. The "
Thraco-Phrygian" migration from the Balkans to Asia Minor would have taken place at some point following the
Bronze Age collapse or during the early Iron Age. The Thyni and Bithyni appear to have settled simultaneously in the adjoining parts of Asia, where they expelled or subdued the
Mysians,
Caucones and other minor tribes, the
Mariandyni maintaining themselves in the northeast. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as settling side by side.
[1] No trace of their original language has been preserved, but Herodotus describes them as related to the tribes of Thracian extraction like the
Phrygians and
Armenians, whose languages may form part of the
Paleo-Balkan group (although this is not certain and the theory is not universally accepted).
Later the
Greeks established on the coast the colonies of Cius (modern Gemlik);
Chalcedon (modern
Kadık?y), at the entrance of the Bosporus, nearly opposite
Byzantium (modern
Istanbul) and
Heraclea Pontica (modern Karadeniz Ereğli), on the Euxine, about 120 miles (190 km) east of the Bosporus.
[2]
The Bithynians were incorporated by king
Croesus within the
Lydian monarchy, with which they fell under the dominion of
Persia (546 BC), and were included in the
satrapy of
Phrygia, which comprised all the countries up to the Hellespont and Bosporus.
[1]