Avanos is part of Cappadocia and carries the traces of the Hittites, Phrygians, Persians, Assyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottomans. Its history reaches back at least four thousand years, which gives it a considerable place in the region.
The evidence comes from a dig. On the finds Italian archaeologists recovered at Topaklı Höyük in 1967, the history of Avanos is said to reach back to the Hittites. Hittites, Medes, Phrygians, Assyrians, Persians, Celts, the kingdom of Cappadocia, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottomans all appear in different phases of the town's past.
The name changed with each of them. Many historians give it as Zuwinasa under the Hittites, Nenansa under the Assyrians, Venessa under the Byzantines and Evenüz under the Seljuks. Under the Ottomans it was said as Uvenez, Evenez or Avanoz, and over time it became Avanos.
What the name means is what the town still does. Breaking down the Seljuk form Evenüz, the municipality reads evani as vessels — pots and the wares used in a kitchen — so that Even-öz means the town that makes pots, that makes earthenware. The Seljuk period is the one closest to the founding of Avanos that we can trace. The red clay of the Kızılırmak, the potters' workshops and the town's Ottoman houses each have their own page below.
