Çavuş Baths

The Çavuş Baths are a historic Ottoman hammam in Niksar District of Tokat Province in northern Anatolia, in a town of significant historical importance as the ancient Neocaesarea and one of the first cities of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate. Niksar served as the capital of the Danishmendid dynasty before its incorporation into the Rum Sultanate, and its position on the trade route between the Black Sea coast and the Anatolian interior made it a prosperous provincial centre throughout the medieval and Ottoman periods. Named after the çavuş — the officer rank in the Ottoman military hierarchy responsible for maintaining order and protocol — the baths may have served the garrison or administrative community of a town that has maintained military and administrative significance since its foundation as a Pontic capital in antiquity.