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 We
learn from the findings obtained in the excavations initiated in 1967
at the Topaklı village by Italians and still continuing at present,
that the oldest known history goes back to the bronze and iron ages.
It has been determined from a Hittite tablet found at Boğazköy, Hattuşaş
in 1926, showing that the residents of the region had communicated with
each other and read by philologist Emile Forrer, that Avanos was called
Zuwinasa in the Hittite era. Michel Condoz found out from an Assyrian
tablet in the region that Avanos was called Nenassa in the Assyrian
era. The Geographia1 of Strabon writes that the emperor of Rome, Tiberius
Caesar (14-17 AD) and the Roman Senate had resolved to make this region
a Roman province after the death of Arkhealos, the last king of the
Cappadocian Kingdom (17 AD). The Byzantine sources mention the Region
as Venasa at the earlier Christian era. Strabon mentions this name as
Ouenasa as written in Hellenic and says that the region is renown for
the Ouenasa Zeus temple. Moreover, he makes no mention of other towns
in the region. Accordingly, we can assume that the town in the Venasa
region had flourished in the late Middle Ages and named after the region.
The History of Avanos
 As
for the origin and meaning of the Ouenasa / Venasa, we know that Vanassa
means queen in the Anatolian Pamphillian language, a successor of the
Luwi language of 1000 BC. We can mention the script on the town coins
(Pergessus) which describe Artemis of Pergessus as Vanassa Prella (the
hill of Pergessus). Most probably, the Venasa in the Cappadocian language,
which is another successor of the Luwi language, is not anything other
than the mentioned Venassa, which signifies the Mother Goddess. It is
again probable that the Mother Goddess temple in this area in the Morimene
region, which proves by its name that this was a centre of Mother Goddess
worship dominant at Cappadocia, had been owned, as seen in many regions,
by a Hellenistic goddess during the Hellenization age. While this owning
is generally attributed to Artemis or Apollo (sometimes both jointly),
here as in Euromos and few other places, the temple of Mother Goddess
was owned by Zeus.
There are settlements in Anatolia, which are namesakes with the district
centre Avanos. There is an Avanos village of the Karadere district in
Trabzon, Sürmene (1946). Another one is a location of the Meydan Köyü,
Kurucaşile district Bartın, Zonguldak (1946). These names derive from
the Armenian word avan (district) and it is believed that the conversion
of the district centre's name originating both from Avanos and Venasa
into Avanos which suits both the Armenian and Greek dialects, is due
to the word ayan in Armenian. Furthermore, a district of Greece near
the Turkish border is also called Avanos.
Avanos Houses
 In
1750 there existed 56 dwellings at Avanos. Kurena Arif Bey of Avanos,
who was an official of the palace during the reign of Abdülhamid II,
had made great efforts for the development of Avanos. A revival is observed
at Avanos after the first half of the 18th century. Houses were being
built with reliefs on the facades and magnificent interior decorations.
One of these houses, an Ottoman house remaining up to the present day,
was built 1872 and still preserves its original beauty.
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