Cyprus villas, apartments and property for sale. Properties in Paphos.

The village Konia is located at a distance of 3 km east of the city of Paphos and at an average altitude of 190 meters. It neighbours with the villages Anavargos in the NW, Armou in the NE, Marathounta in the East, and Geroskipou in the South.
It is believed that the name of the village comes from the word KONYA, the word used by the Turks to rename the city of Ikonio in Asia Minor, in which four thousand Greeks formerly lived. Quite probably, the first inhabitants of the community were the Greeks from Asia Minor.
Mulberries were cultivated in a small tract of land that was irrigated by the waters of the only communal fountain, which also served the community's need for drinking water to a great extent. Silkworms, which fed on their leafs, were raised, especially during the times of WW II and also a bit later on with a silk-factory operating in Geroskipou.
Other trees that were then somehow important for the inhabitant's financial state were the "tremithies" (turpentine trees), from the fruits of which oil was extracted and that also were used as food when dried. Moreover, resin (called "tremintina" in the folkloric language) was gathered from scores, caused by axe blows upon the trunks of large and old trees of that variety. Tt was filtered and purged of any foreign substances and was then sold to the merchants. After special treatment they produced the well known ‹‹Mastic (Gum) of Paphos››.
In the beginning of the previous century there were some wooden treadmills (draw-wells) in the village that were gradually replaced by metallic ones, being more durable and also more efficient, with which they drew water for the irrigation of some crofts of that era.
Apart from these draw-wells there also were wells with a smaller opening, the water being drawn with a small, manual treadmill that was equipped with ordinary rope, mostly made with cannabis fibres, at the end of which a metallic bucket was fastened.
No specimen of the above types of draw-wells exists today.
Apart from the Community's Fountain and until the 1940's, some natural springs with a stone-made pond were found in the following locations:
South-west in the "Chones" and the "Kamaroudi", West in the "Vasilika", South-east in the "Loukkos", in "Saint Avatzieros", and in "Kefalovrysoi", south in the "Marmarades', east in the "Lakkoudia", and north-east in the "Kalogirous".
Out of these spring only still exists, the one in "Vasilika" about 1 kilometre from the village.
In the area surrounding the spring and until a few years ago there were Sumac bushes, commonly known as "roudhi", which grow naturally in mountainous, wooded regions and the leaves of which have antiseptic properties and were used in the processing of leather (tanning). The lake where the water of the spring was kept, so as to be later used for irrigation, was known under the name ‹‹Tabakhane›› (pronounced tabac - chan-e), which in Greek means "tannery", implying that leaves or branches from the surrounding bushes were thrown into the lake's water to prevent the decay of leathers that were intended for commercial use.

Because the agricultural production did not secure the resources necessary to sustain a family, the male inhabitants practised a second occupation. Several were carpenters, tailors, construction workers, shoemakers, muleteers, coach owners, quarrymen, and others were workers in road constructions. Quite a few secured a job in the mines, mainly that of Skouriotissa, that of Mavrovouni, and the of Limni (Lake).

During WW II, a manganese mine operated in the village, manganese being a mineral used in the processing of iron to produce steel. Several inhabitants of the community found jobs in this local mine.
Seasonally, some would go over to carob-producing villages and help in the collection of carobs. Such villages were Kouklia, Pissouri, Avdimou, and Alektora.
Some of the women of the village supplemented the family income with weaving. Formerly, apart from rugs ("pefkouthkia" meaning, "little mats") they also wove cotton and silk textiles in the loom. More recently only two or three women still practised this profession.
Most of them however were labourers and secured jobs in the viticulture industry, either during the trimming season or during harvest, as well as in some plantations with citrus-fruits in Paphos and also in Limassol. During the months of summer, they would find jobs in picking onions at the manors of Kouklia and Acheleia, as also in the plains of Mandria, Koloni, and Geroskipou.
Furthermore, when the silk-workshop operated in Geroskipou, some of them had the opportunity to secure a job there.

PLACE NAMES
The main names of places in the village are the following: "Lakkoudia" (Little Pits), "Kapsalia" (Scorched woods / area), "Trypitospilios" (Cave of Holes), "Athasera", "Vasilika", "Kamaroudi" (Small Room), "Laonarka" (Flatlands or Plateau), "Chones", "Perneri", "Skali" (Step or Stairs), "Lemoudes", "Lourka" (Straps), "Kalogiroi" (Monks), "Laxies" (Gorges), "Mersines" (Myrtles), "Petrolaona" (Stone-valley), "Loukkos" (Pit), "Boukolomantres" (Shepherd's Pens), "Ambades", "Kefalovrysi" (Fountainhead), "Mitsi", "Trypiti" , "Marmarades" (Marble Cutters) , "Arkakoudia" (Small Trenches), "Stavroi (Crosses), "Kokkinogia" (Redlands), "Palloursiellaros", and "Agios (Saint) Avatzieros".

EDUCATION
In his book entitled "History of the Greek Letters" (From the Turkish Conquest (1571) Until the British Occupation (1878)), publication of 1930, Ieronymos K. Peristianis reports that before the British occupation a privately owned, "Common Letters" school operated in Konia and in it taught Papa-Alexis, coming from Marathasa, from 1868 until 1872. In this school the pupils were taught Reading, using church books as an aid, as well as a bit of Arithmetic and Writing. From 1872 until 1874 a man named Kyriakos Diakos from Tala taught in the privately owned school.
As tuition fees, each student paid 5 "grosia" (coins, piasters) per week and every Saturday gave -in addition to the money -a loaf of bread to the teacher.
After the British occupied Cyprus, state-owned elementary schools started operating in the island. However, due to insufficient personnel in education that could cover the needs of the elementary schools in their entirety, in many cases the schools of two neighbouring communities operated in turns. This was the case with the communities of Konia and Anavargos.
That is, in one year the school of Konia would be the one operating, the children of Anavargos attending it apart from the community's own students, while in the following year the opposite would take place.
However, in the case of Konia and Anavargos the transferring of the children to school from one community to the other was problematic, especially during the months of winter when, due to the rain, the two small rivers that the children had to cross had plenty of water; the children of senior classes were thus forced to carry the younger ones on their shoulders, helping them across to the other side.
In a 1916 photograph, at the time when Nikolas Paraschos served in Konia, the children of the junior classes are depicted wearing some sort of small kilts, sitting cross-legged and barefoot, while the children of senior classes are wearing "vrakes" (galligaskins).
According to a newspaper of that era, Konia had a soccer team in 1932 under the name "Aris", which participated in the first regional soccer matches of Paphos and faced the High School's team on the 8th of May 1932.

The present Mayor of Konia is Kyriakos Kyriakou