Honaz is a town and a district of
Denizli Province
Denizli Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to the west and Muğla to the south. ...
in the
Aegean Region
The Aegean Region () is one of the 7 Geographical regions of Turkey, geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya.
Located in w ...
, also known as Khonaz or Cadmus. It covers an area of . The population (as of 2010) was 9,830 (the central town) and 30,530 (including rural area).
Honaz is about 20 km (12 mi) east of the city of
Denizli
Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...
on the slopes of the mountain of the same name –
Mount Honaz
Mount Honaz ( tr, Honaz Dağı), is a mountain and a national park, located in southwestern Turkey, east of the province seat of Denizli. On April 21, 1995, it was proclaimed as a protected area. Honaz, Denizli's depending township that carries ...
(''Honaz Dağı''). The mountain is the highest peak in Turkey's Aegean Region (2517 m). Just north of Honaz is Honaz Stream (''Honaz Çayı''), known in ancient times as the
Lycus.
History
In antiquity it was known as ''
Colossae
Colossae (; grc-gre, Κολοσσαί) was an ancient city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and one of the most celebrated cities of southern Anatolia (modern Turkey). The Epistle to the Colossians, an early Christian text which identifies its author ...
''. At 500 BC Colossae was founded by the
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
ns, and then passed into the hands of the
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...
.
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
and
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
both record the passage of Greek and Persian armies though here during the
Persian Wars
The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...
, at that time it was ''a large Phrygian city''. A few ruins of the ancient city remain. Like many other ancient cities of the region, Colossae was destroyed by earthquakes, with little surviving.
In the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period its name was ''Chonai''. The city and a bishopric of Chonai was established at the location of the present Honaz township by the
Byzantines during the Arab invasions of the 7th century. Being further up the mountain the location was easier to defend. Following centuries of Byzantine rule the town was first captured by the
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
in 1070, but was then reconquered during the
Komnenian period
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The ''Komnenian'' (also spelled ''Comnenian'') period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I Komnenos, Alexios I, Jo ...
. During the reign of
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), w ...
it prospered as a frontier town, a trading and pilgrimage venue for both Christians and Muslims. The forces of
Louis VII of France
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
, ''en route'' to the Holy Land as part of the
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...
, were attacked here by the Turks in the
battle of Mount Cadmus
The Battle of Mount Cadmus took place near Laodicea, at Honaz, on January 6, 1148, during the Second Crusade. The French crusader army, led by Louis VII of France, was defeated by the Seljuks of Rum.
Background
The ill-disciplined Crusaders, es ...
of 1148. The Byzantine chronicler
Niketas Choniates
Niketas or Nicetas Choniates ( el, Νικήτας Χωνιάτης; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (Ἀκομινάτος), was a Byzantine Greek government official and historian – like his brother Michael Akominatos, wh ...
(c. 1155-1215/1216) was a native of the city. Chonai was plundered twice by local independent warlords backed by the Turks (by
Theodoros Mankaphas
Theodore Mangaphas or Mankaphas ( gr, Θεόδωρος Μαγκαφᾶς, fl. c. 1188–1205) was a Greek nobleman from Philadelphia, who assumed the title of Byzantine emperor twice, first during the reign of Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–1195 and ...
in late 1180s and by Pseudo-Alexios in 1192). It finally fell to the
Seljuks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
soon afterwards.
Kaykhusraw I
Kaykhusraw I ( 1ca, كَیخُسرو or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw ibn Kilij Arslān; fa, غياث الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان), the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II, was Seljuk Sultan of Rûm. He succeeded his ...
promised to return it to the Byzantines, but in view of the collapse of imperial power caused by the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
and the Latin conquest of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
he decided rather to assign it to his father-in-law, the Byzantine renegade
Manuel Maurozomes Manuel Komnenos Maurozomes ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός Μαυροζώμης; died ) was a Byzantine nobleman who in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade tried to found an independent principality in Phrygia. His daughter, named ''Dawlat R ...
. The latter held it as an autonomous lordship together with
Laodikeia, near present-day
Denizli
Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...
, from 1205 until his death ca. 1230.
Theodore I Laskaris
Theodore I Laskaris or Lascaris ( gr, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Λάσκαρις, Theodōros Komnēnos Laskaris; 1175November 1221) was the first emperor of Nicaea—a successor state of the Byzantine Empire—from 1205 to his de ...
came to accept it in a 1206 agreement with Kaykhusraw I.
There is a Seljuk fortress in Honaz, and the Murat Mosque which dates back to the reign of
Ottoman Sultan
Murat II
Murad II ( ota, مراد ثانى, Murād-ı sānī, tr, II. Murad, 16 June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1444 and again from 1446 to 1451.
Murad II's reign was a period of important economic deve ...
(''imperabat'' 1404–1451).
In the 20th century, Honaz was one of the places where the Vallahades or Valaades (ethnic Greek Muslims from southwest Greek Macedonia) were forced to resettle during the
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...
of 1922–23.
[Koukoudis, Asterios (2003). The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora. Zitros. p.198]
Honaz today
Today the economy of Honaz is centred on growing
cherries
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
, 80% of the crop being exported from Turkey, generating up to 35 million dollars of income per annum. There is an annual cherry festival in the town. Tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables are grown too including a local variety of
oleaster , signifying a plant like an olive, but less valuable (cf. poetaster), may be applied to:
*Feral olive trees that have been allowed to run wild
*''Olea oleaster'', the wild olive
*Various species of ''Elaeagnus'', notably ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'', ...
.
Honaz is also the homeland of a number of well-known
pehlivan Pehlivan or Pahlevan derives from Iranian language word meaning ''noble'', ''wrestler'', ''hero'' or ''champion'' and it is a loan word in many Asiatic languages as well as middle eastern languages including Turkey, Turkish surname originally given ...
s (
oil wrestlers) including the 3-time national champion
Hüseyin Çokal.
In the nearby depending township of
Kaklık
Kaklık is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Honaz, Denizli Province, Turkey. Its population is 4,909 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde'').
Geography
Kaklık is situated in the plain which is name ...
, there is a large cave called " Kaklık Cave" or "Kaklık Mağarası" which attracts visitors from all over the country. A spring that spurts out on the surface only to flow back underground shortly afterwards through the cave in cascading layers of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
and
travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...
caused Kaklık to appear very much like a subterranean
Pamukkale
Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing of thermal spring water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, i ...
.
References
* Klaus Belke, Norbert Mersich, ''Phrygien und Pisidien'', ''Tabula Imperii Byzantini VII'', Wien 1990, s. 309–311.
* ''O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates'', ed. Harry J. Magoulias, Detroit, MI 1984.
* Claude Cahen, ''The Formation of Turkey. The Seljukid Sultanate of Rum: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century'', Harlow 2001.
External links
Information about Colossae on the Denizli Council website (English)Holy Land photos Colossae
{{Authority control
Populated places in Denizli Province
Districts of Denizli Province
Colossae