Behisna

Besni grew below a fortress on the southern slopes of the Taurus, between the uplands of Malatya and the plains toward the Euphrates. Its position made the castle valuable to successive rulers of the frontier. The old settlement occupied steep ground around the stronghold, whose walls overlooked the approaches through the surrounding valleys.

During the medieval struggles for northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia, Besni changed hands among rival powers. In August 1516 Sultan Selim I took it from the Mamluks during the Ottoman campaign against Syria. The Ottomans made Besni the centre of a sancak in their newly organised Arab province. Its castle and town thereafter formed part of a much larger imperial network, though the difficult terrain continued to give the settlement its distinctive character.