 In order to indicate, finally, that the city was even then under the Ottoman rule, the narrator adds that the people of Damascus had just received a governor ("na'ib") from Constantinople.In 1515 Selim I defeated the Mamelukes and Syria became part of the Ottoman Empire.The "Chronicle" of Joseph Sambari (finished 1672) contains the names of a number of rabbis of note who lived in Damascus during the 16th century.