Kütahya (Turkish pronunciation: [cyˈtahja]; historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion; Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, at 969 metres above sea level.
[2] The region of Kütahya has large areas of gentle slopes with agricultural land culminating in high mountain ridges to the north and west.
In 676 BC, the Cimmerians defeated the Phrygian King Midas III and dominated Kütahya and its surroundings.
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persians near the Biga River, established dominance in the region.
A source cited by Le Quien says that a bishop of Cotyaeum named Eusebius was at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.
During this time a large number of Christian Armenians settled in Kotyaion/Kütahya, where they came to dominate the tile-making and ceramic-ware production.
[11] Kütahya emerged as a renowned center for the Ottoman ceramic industry, producing tiles and faience for mosques, churches, and official buildings in places all over the Middle East.
[citation needed] The fortifications of the city and its environs, which were vital to the security and economic prosperity of the region, were built and rebuilt from antiquity through the Ottoman period.
[15] At the end of the nineteenth century the population of the kaza of Kütahya numbered 120,333, of which 4,050 were Greeks, 2,533 Armenians, 754 Catholics, and the remainder Turks and other Muslim ethnicities.
[19] Modern industries are sugar refining, tanning, nitrate processing and different products of meerschaum, which is extracted nearby.
A small ewer, now in the British Museum, gave its name to a category of similar blue and white fritware pottery known as 'Abraham of Kütahya ware'.
It has an inscription in Armenian script under the glaze on its base stating that it commemorated Abraham of Kütahya with a date of 1510.
The Şengül Hamamı is a famous Turkish bath located in the city The town preserves some ancient ruins, a Byzantine castle and church.
During late centuries Kütahya has been renowned for its Turkish earthenware, of which fine specimens may be seen at the national capital.