Kutahya, Turkey

Kutahya is a town in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Known for its colored tiles, Kutahya Faience, the town also serves as a base for the ruins of the Temple of Zeus in Aizanoi, amongst the best preserved Roman ruins in the country. Kutahya is a city in western Turkey with 213,000 inhabitants (2007 estimate), lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kütahya Province, inhabited by some 684,082 people (2007 estimate). The region of Kütahya has large areas of gentle slopes with agricultural land culminating in high mountain ridges to the north and west. The city's Roman name was Cotyaeum, a name it retains as a titular Catholic see. 3rd millennium BCE: Settled, and known as Kotiaion or Cotyaeum, "the city of the goddess Kotys". It was an important stopover on the road from the Marmara region to Mesopotamia. 12th century BC: Incorporated into the Phrygian kingdom, becoming one of the country's most important cities. Its Greek name was Kotiaion according to its coins, commonly Latinized as Cotyaion, still meaning the city of Cotys. The ancient city became part of the Roman province of Phrygia Salutaris. It was a centre of heresy from the second century onwards. Socrates 4 speaks of its Novatian bishop. At first a simple