KOTHEN, or Cothen, chief town of a circle in the duchy of Anhalt, Germany, is situated on the Ziethe, at the junction of several railway lines, about 42 miles northwest of Leipsic by rail. It consists of an old and a new town with four suburbs. It has two palaces, one of which in the old town contains various scientific collections and a library of 20,000 volumes. The industries include ironfounding and the manufacture of agricultural and other machinery, malt, beet-root sugar, leather, spirits, &c.; a tolerably active trade is carried on in grain, wool, potatoes, and vegetables. In 1875 the population, including the garrison, was 14,403.

Said to have been an important Wendish city, Kothen was captured and destroyed by Henry I. in 927. In 1300 it was burned by the margrave of Meissen. In 1547 it was presented by the emperor to General Ladron, from whom it soon passed by purchase to its old possessors. Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy, lived and worked in Kothen, and a homoeopathic establishment still exists in the town. Till 1853 Kothen was the capital of the duchy of Anhalt-Kothen.