Mohoglou

The janissary Arif Mohoglou lived in the village Mochos, province Pediada, during the period of the Revolution of 1821. Mohoglou had built a fortress - tower, where his family lived.

In 1807, the son of Mohoglou, Karabinis, killed the sister of the rebel Georgios Vergas, Sophia Verga, while she was trying to escape from the tower. Karabinis had organized a party at his house and had invited all Christian girls of the village, in order to seduce Sophia. When the feast was over, he told her that he wanted to give her a message and some gift from her brother, who was then in Constantinople. Sophia believed him and he led her in front of an open chest, where he was supposed to have stored the gifts. While she was trying to see what’s inside, he grabbed her and tried to rape her. Sophia was sturdy, agile and strong, thus she pushed him away and slumped down the stairs. He quickly got up, grabbed his gun and managed to shoot at her, when she was at the door. Apart from this, the Turks had hung the brother of Georgios Vergas, Zaharias, for his revolutionary action.

Thus, when Georgios learned about these tragic events, he returned to Crete with his brother Nikolaos, so as to take revenge. They went to Mochos, dug up their sister and found the bullet that had killed her. They then ambushed in a safe position, somewhere on the path coming from Stalis, and killed Karambinis by shooting at him with the same bullet. He then cut his head and hung it on the tower of Mohoglou. Today, unfortunately, nothing remains of the tower.