High on a hill, a largely unspoilt green area with sea views. The village Konia is located 3 km east of Paphos and at an average altitude of 190 meters. It neighbours with the villages Anavargos in the North-West, Armou in the North-East, Marathounta in the East, and Geroskipou in the South.

Konia is a medium-sized village, situated to the North-East of Paphos, in an elevated position overlooking the Town and South to West coastline.  The location of this pretty village has attracted foreign nationals, whose preference is to reside amongst a local community, whilst enjoying the panoramic views of Paphos’ tourist areas.  Konia remains unique in the sense that the typical ‘Cypriot’ style is on one’s doorstep, yet the hustle and bustle of the town, places of interest and beaches are just a short drive away.

According to one version, the village took its name from the word "konnos" that means "argil" (potter's clay), something however that is not valid because the tracts of loamy land in the village's region are very few.

According to a second version, the name came from the word "konos" because there are cone-like hills in the village -though this is not actually the case since the cone-shaped hills are located in the east, north-east, and north and at a distance of two and more kilometres from the village.

The third and most probable interpretation is 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, it got 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.

The main characteristic of the wooden treadmills was the thick and broad rope that was made out of stranded, thin, and supple myrtle-sticks to which oblong buckets made of tile were fastened so as to draw water with it from the wells.

In the metallic treadmills the buckets were made of tin and were more spacious. These were fastened to a kind of metallic chain. Both kinds of draw-wells were operated with the aid of a donkey, which circled around the treadmill until the quantity of water necessary for the irrigation was drawn and stored into a pond next to the well.

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 is extant 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 one is extant, 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 leafs of which have antiseptic properties and thus were used in the processing of leather (tanning). The lake where the water of the spring was kept  was known under the name “Tabakhane” ,which in Greek means "tannery", something implying that leafs or branches from the surrounding bushes were thrown into the lake's water so as to prevent the decay of leathers that were intended for commercial use.

 

Konia has had a continuous increase of its population from 1881 until 1946. In 1881 the village's inhabitants numbered 198, increasing to 296 in 1911and to 413 in 1946. In 1960 the inhabitants decreased to 394 and in 1973 to 366, increasing again to 416 in 1982. Today the village's inhabitants number about 1100. However, the community's population is rapidly increasing due to the expansion of the residential zones. The reasons contributing to attracting many new inhabitants are basically three:

A) The small distance from the city.
B) The firmness of the ground.
C) The climate.

Because the agricultural production did not secure the resources necessary to sustain a family, the male inhabitants practiced 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 the ones of Skouriotissa, Mavrovouni, and Limni (Lake).

During WW II, a manganese mine operated in the village, manganese being a mineral used in the processing of iron so as to produce steel. Several inhabitants of the community found a job in this local mine.

Seasonally, some would go over to carob-producing villages and helped in the collection of carobs. Such villages were Kouklia, Pissouri, Avdimou, and Alektora.

Some women were occupied with tailoring though most of them with weaving. Formerly, apart from rugs ("pefkouthkia" meaning, "little mats") they also wove cotton and silk textiles in the loom. Until recently only two or three women practiced this profession.

Most of them however were labourers that secured a job 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.

 

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. 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 not 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 minor 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.

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".