On a hill outside the village of Patsideros, there are the ruins of a tower. The building was divided into rooms and even in the dilapidated state that it is today, at least three can be seen. It covered a large area on top of the hill with an unlimited view in all directions and especially towards the old passage, which led from Mesara to Heraklion. 

There are no surviving records for this tower, except for legends that connect it to the name of the village of Patsideros. According to one legend, when Nikiforos Phokas took Crete from the Arabs in 961, he brought to the island twelve noblemen, one of whom settled in this area. His name was Patsis and the tower was his property. So since Patsis was given this land as a “doro” (i.e. gift), it was subsequently called Patsi-doros and over the centuries it was transliterated to Patsideros. 

According to another legend, which is less accepted by researchers-historians, the name Patsideros has its roots in the word paciero (paciere) which means peacemaker. 

Nikos Stavrinidis found documents In the Turkish archive of Heraklion that list towers in the province of Pediada, Rizou (Viannos), Keinourgiou and Pyrgiotissa. In this file, the tower in Patsideros is referred to as Koutsoulas.