The town occupies the site of the Byzantine city of Nakoleia, and was named after the 8th-century Muslim saint ("seyyid") and warrior Battal Gazi, who fell in a battle nearby in 740. A complex () dedicated to Battal Gazi and containing his tomb, a mosque, a medrese, cells and ceremonial rooms for dervishes as well as charitable services for the community such as kitchens and a bakery was built in 1208 on a hill overlooking the town by Ümmühan Hatun, wife of the Seljuk sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I and further extended in 1511 by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II. The shrine and the adjoining complex remain popular with local as well as foreign visitors.