Tower of Agha

On the island of Lesbos, the Tower of Agha stands as a solid, four-square Ottoman tower-house dated to 1706. It is a rare surviving example of a fortified rural residence from this period in Greece, built for a local landholder or official. Its thick stone walls and small windows speak to a time of insecurity, when a house needed to be a refuge as much as a home. Excavations in 2001 also revealed a vast deposit of flint with the same physical and mechanical properties as material used elsewhere.