Galatia
Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...
Celt
The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
ic tribes which migrated from the
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
Valley to Galatia in present-day central
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
in the 3rd century BCE. Owing to its position on the high roads of commerce, Tavium was an important trading post. The site was successively occupied by
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...
,
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into W ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
ns, Celts,
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, Romans,
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...
and
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
. At the time of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, Tavium was an important crossroads and a stopping place on the caravan routes.
One of the few things known about Tavium is that there was metalworking; this is known from coins minted there in the early 1st century that bear the likenesses of
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
and
Elagabalus
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...
. Copper, tin, iron and silver were mined in the nearby mountains. Similar to other Celtic towns of the time, the smelting and stamping was done by a small group of artisans working in one or two stone huts. In the city there was a colossal
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
statue of
Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
, who was greatly venerated by the Galatians.
The site of Tavium is generally believed to be ruins situated close to the village of Büyüknefes (previously known as Nefezköy), in a fertile plain east of the
Kızılırmak river
The Kızılırmak (, Turkish language, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River () and Alis River, is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navigation.
Geogra ...
(ancient Halys) in
Yozgat Province
Yozgat Province () is a province in central Turkey. Its area is 13,690 km2, and its population is 418,442 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Çorum to the northwest, Kırıkkale to the west, Kırşehir to the southwest, Nevşehir to the s ...
. Materials from these ruins were used in building the neighbouring town of
Yozgat
Yozgat is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Yozgat Province and Yozgat District.Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
; these have a number of inscriptions, mostly
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
.
Archaeological surveys have been conducted at the site by Karl Strobel and Christoph Gerber since 1997.
Strobel, K.; Gerber, C. (2010). “Tavium (Büyüknefes, Provinz Yozgat) und seine Region Bericht über die Kampagnen 2006–2009.” ''Istanbuler Mitteilungen'' 60: 291-338.
In the '' Notitiæ Episcopatuum'' the bishopric of Tavium is mentioned up to the 13th century as the first
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...
of
Ancyra
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( Etimesgut, Yenimahalle, Çankaya, Keçiören, Altında ...
. The names of five bishops of the area are known: Dicasius, present at the Councils of Neocæsarea and
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionsecond Council of Ephesus
The Second Council of Ephesus was a Christological church synod in 449 convened by Emperor Theodosius II under the presidency of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria. It was intended to be an ecumenical council, and it is accepted by the miaphysit ...
(449), and at the
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...
(451), and a signer of the letter from the Galatian bishops to the Emperor Leo (458); Anastasius, present at the
second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...
(553); Gregory at the Council in Trullo (692); Philaretus at
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
(869).
As of the early 20th century, Büyüknefes was inhabited during the winter by nomadic Turkish tribes. It was then in the kaza (district) of
Sungurlu
Sungurlu is a town in Çorum Province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, located 72 km south-west of the city of Çorum. It is the seat of Sungurlu District.vilayet of Ankara. Now it is a part of Yozgat Province.