[7]: 335  James Howard-Johnston identifies Palu with the "Palios" mentioned by the 7th-century geographer George of Cyprus.

[8]: 239 Palu is located on the north side of the Murat Su, at the lower end of a treeless plain bisected by a low line of hills.

[9]: 117 Palu has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa),[10] with very hot, dry summers, and cold winters.

[12]: 58  One important remnant is an inscribed stele describing the Urartian king Menua's conquest of a region called Shebeteria - possibly an ancient name for Palu.

[9]: 134  Three rock-cut tombs on the northwest side of the citadel suggest the presence of a rich upper class here.

[9]: 140 During the middle ages, Palu was a flourishing market town with a mixed Armenian and Syriac population.

[9]: 146 Palu was the site of an Akkoyunlu fortress in the late 15th century, which was captured by Hüseyin Bey, a Mirdâsîd lord from the Principality of Eğil.

[5] The town of Balu had a mixed population of Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Syriacs, and Greeks with about 6,000 inhabitants in 1830-1850 and 10,000 in 1914.

[5] The fortress built on top of the castle rock consists of four walled enclosures, each one enclosing a distinct part of the mountain.

[9]: 120  A fourth enclosure fortifies long rocky outcropping that juts out from the castle rock's west side.

[9]: 120  Nearby are a series of rock-cut chambers which, according to local tradition, were the place where Mesrop Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet.

[9]: 120  A large Christian church is located on the east side of the main enclosure; it was built in the early 1800s.

[9]: 121  There have since been significant changes to the Ulu Cami since then: for example, its minaret was built in 1660/61, and an outer courtyard was added in the early 20th century.