Classical Age In antiquity it was known as
Colossae. At 500 BC Colossae was founded by the
Phrygians, and then passed into the hands of the
Ancient Greeks.
Herodotus and
Xenophon both record the passage of Greek and Persian armies though here during the
Persian Wars, at that time it was
a large Phrygian city. A few ruins of the ancient city remain. Like many other ancient cities of the region, Colossae was destroyed by earthquakes, with little surviving.
Byzantine period In the
Byzantine period its name was
Chonae. The city was distinguished in 858 as a Metropolitan See and possibly served as the capital of the
Thracesian Theme from the 7th to the 11th century. The Byzantines also built the Church of Archangel Michael, one of the most important churches in Anatolia. The settlement decreased in importance because of Arab raids but it soon recovered and became a vital economic and religious center. , c. 1000 AD) In 1070 Chonae was sacked by the
Seljuk Afshin, who plundered the Church of Archangel Michael and turned it into a horse stable. The residents of the city attempted to escape in a nearby cave close to a river, but the water level rose and flooded the cave, drowning all the survivors there. The Byzantine chronicler
Niketas Choniates and his brother
Saint Michael Choniates were natives of the town. Chonae was plundered twice by local warlords backed by the Turks, by
Theodoros Mankaphas in the late 1180s and by Pseudo-Alexios in 1192, in which the Turks destroyed the mosaics, the altar, and then the rest of the Church of Archangel Michael. There is a Seljuk fortress in Honaz, and the Murat Mosque which dates back to the reign of
Ottoman Sultan
Murat II (
imperabat 1404–1451).
Modern period In the 20th century, Honaz was one of the places where the
Vallahades or Valaades (ethnic Greek Muslims from southwest Greek Macedonia) were forced to resettle during the
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey of 1922–23. ==Composition==