This pristine region features typical Mediterranean flora and is home to numerous endemic species.

Its rich ecosystems contribute significantly to the ecological diversity of Turkey, making it a vital area for conservation efforts.

[3][4] In the Middle Ages, it was called the Black Mountain in Byzantine Greek, Armenian, Syriac and Latin.

In 1028, the Emperor Romanos III, disturbed by the number of "heretical" (i.e., Syriac and Armenian) monks in the Black Mountain, tried to draft them for his campaign against Aleppo.

In the 1050s the famous physician Ibn Butlan, who later would himself become a monk in Antioch, was impressed by the general health of monasticism in the region and especially of the monastery of St Simeon the Younger.