When, in the late spring of the year of the revolt, the Moriscos in the Tejeda district voted to rebel, they had no hesitation in joining with the Moriscos of Cómpeta in accordance with the summons by Martín Alwacir, convinced that they had no alternative.

Cómpeta received the support of the whole of the region, becoming the assembly point for this disastrous enterprise. Whilst the plaza resounded to the inflammatory oratory of Alwacir rousing the multitude which had arrived from the towns and villages of the area, the square continued filling up with distressed people who never ceased to turn to see what lay behind them.

The panel shows the dawn exodus from Cómpeta along the uncertain path to the stronghold of Frigiliana. The choice of this place was a purely strategic decision. The Sierra de la Almijara presented a mountainous frontier between the sierras of the Alpujarras, already on a war footing, and the other, calmer territories surrounding Velez Málaga.It was calculated that in the event of a need to retreat (as actually occured), the routes through the densely forested mountains to the Alpujarras would remain open to them. Additional factors were their intimate knowledge of the terrain, the one thousand metre height and harsh nature of the Peñon, and the presence of an existing aqueduct to supply fresh water to the summit.

The poets of old described in meticulous detail the tragic epic of these Spanish Muslims, in which despair and hope of an eventual return to their lost lands were inextricably mixed.