Balıkesir (Bālīkasrī in Arabic orthography) is a town in the Marmara region of present-day Turkey, approximately 80 km (50 mi) south of the Sea of Marmara. It was known as Mysia in ancient times, and the current name derives from the Greek Paleokastro ("Old Castle"). Balıkesir became the capital of the principality of Karesi (Qarasī) at the end of the seventh/thirteenth and the beginning of the eighth/fourteenth centuries. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa visited the town c. 730/1330 and described it as "a beautiful and well-populated city" (Ibn