Tavium

Tavium, or Tavia (Ancient Greek: Τάουιον, romanized: Taouion and Ancient Greek: Τάβεια, romanized: Taveia and Tavia; Latin: Taouion or Tavium), was the chief city of the Galatian tribe of Trocmi, one of the three Celtic tribes which migrated from the Danube Valley to Galatia in present-day central Turkey 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, Cimmerians, Persians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Seljuk Turks and Ottoman Turks. At the time of the Roman Empire, Tavium was an important crossroads and a stopping place on the caravan routes.

Strabo writes that it was a walled garrison and the region's main emporion, which was known for its colossal bronze statue of Zeus and Zeus's sacred sanctuary that served as a place of refuge.

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 and Elagabalus. 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.

Tabia was one of the seven suffragan bishoprics subject to the Metropolis of Ankyra. The other suffragan sees were Helioupolis, Aspone, Berinoupolis, Mnezon, Kine, and Anastasioupolis.

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 (ancient Halys) in Yozgat Province.