In 1820 Ali Pasha felt master of the world. His rule covered most of Epirus, while his castle in Ioannina was almost impregnable. The city was rich, with a lively commerce, libraries and mansions equal to those found in a European capital. Some people hate him and he knows it; they despise his ambition, his vanity, his avarice, his ruthlessness towards anyone who displeases him. But he doesn’t care because he is the ruler, the lion of Ioannina. It is time to rebel and cut his dependence on the Sultan. But Mahmud II has no tolerance for such rebelliousness. He calls him an apostate, a traitor, and sends against him his faithful generals. Ioannina are besieged. Ali, eighty years old by then, does not surrender despite increasing pressure from all sides. He asks the Sultan for forgiveness and awaits his decision on the island, in the monastery of Agios Panteleimon. His enemies found him there in 1822, killed him, and sent his head to Constantinople.