HERACLEA PONTICA, a city on the coast of Phrygia in Asia Minor, easily identified with the modern Bender Eregli or Erekli, at the mouth of the Kilidj-su on the Black Sea. It was founded by a Megarian colony, which soon subjugated the native tribe of the Mariandynians, and extended its power over a considerable territory. The prosperity of the city, rudely shaken by the Galatians and the Bithynians, was utterly destroyed by Aurelius Cotta in the Mithridatic war. It was the birthplace of Heraclides Ponticus. The modern town is best known for its coal mines, from which Constantinople receives a good part of its supply. See Polsberw, De Rebus Heraclece, Brandenbarg, 1333 ; and 0. Ictianinel, Heracleotica: BeitrcYge zur alter Gesch. der griech. Colonisation ins nordl. Klein-Asien (Progr. des Gymn. zu Plauen, 1860).