It was in 1300B.C. when the legs of the Achaean fighter stepped on the land of Cyprus. Thousands of Achaeans, after their ten year stay out of the walls of Troy, got onto their ships to return to their motherlands. Their hold was filled with treasures from the conquered city.
The messages coming from their towns were negative for them. They did not want them anymore. They were replaced by other Kings. The heroes of the Trojan war only had one choice; to find new motherlands. Heroes like Tefkros, Dimofon, Proxandros and Chalkinor were just a few out of which the sea guided to the shores of Cyprus.
The fighters from Argos came ashore to today’s beach of Episkopi. It was the only beach that was “offered” for debarkation from the ships on an area of many kilometres.
The morphology the area gave them a wonderful location to build their new Kingdom. A narrow strip of 50 metres and a high, vertical cliff follows it. On the peak of it they built their town. They called it Kourion.
They built a majestic Temple and dedicated it to God Apollon Ylatis and in a very short period of time it became the pole of attraction for thousands of worshippers from all over Cyprus, thus giving Kourion a great strength in terms of economy.
The Apostles Paul and Barnabas arrived in Kourion 1350 years later to preach Christianity, without being able to enter the city. With the dominance of the new Religion on the island, the decline of Kourion began. The Temple of Apollon was abandoned and ruined and no one visited it anymore.
Arabic crusades followed, during which the Kingdom was looted and put on fire. Its residents fled to the mountains, where they built new settlements away from the shores, thus creating most of the villages in the mountain area of Limassol.
The ruined and abandoned houses of Kourion were transformed into hideouts for robbers and pirates for a certain amount of years. Later on, when the Arabic crusades stopped on the coastal areas of the island, the new residents built a new settlement, on their effort to take advantage of the huge, fertile plain that spread southeast of ancient Kourion (Curium).
The new Religion installed one of its dioceses in the settlement. This is why the village was called “Episkopi”. Episkopi today is a huge museum on its own. You will see leftovers from all the civilisations that passed by and have been created on the island. There are Temples dedicated to the dodecatheon, and Churches dedicated to the New Religion. There are Temples dedicated to Mohammed and these are only a few of the ones forming the religious kaleidoscope of Episkopi.
We came across 5 Christian Churches. The church of Agia Paraskevi is the main one of the community. Another very old Church found in the centre of the village is dedicated to the Virgin and on the point where the fighters from Arga debarked, there is a Church and the Tomb of Agios Ermogenis. Also in a central point, behind the building of the Community Council close to the amphitheatre, there is a recent Church dedicated to Agios Spyridonas.
On the spot where the Church is found, a few years ago there was a Terebinth tree. It exceeded a thousand years of age. Partisan conflicts claiming the area to built a partisan association drove certain people to poison the tree and to “kill” it.
During the excavations that followed to deroot the dead tree, ruins of an old Christian church were found. Thus, it was decided that the place should be under the power of the diocese and that a new Church should be built.
In the same area, a huge stone with a hole in its middle was found. It is said that whoever tried to pass through it, no matter how fat they were, they miraculously passed to the opposite side. In the middle of the foundations of the excavated Church, there is a similar rock. Do not try to pass through. It is not a real one. The one that existed in the ancient years has been lost.
Archaeological sites, museums, cultural centres, sports courts, parks and a stone built amphitheatre are just a few of the things that Episkopi can offer to its visitors. It would be an omission to not mention the monuments honouring the heroes, that are scattered in central points of the community.
Even though it is a big, contemporary village with more than 4 thousand residents, Episkopi keeps the character of a village, along with all the positive things that this could bring along.
We left hospitality for the end. Today’s residents of Episkopi, either they are locals or their origins are from the occupied villages of our country and mainly from Lysi, Ammochostos, they have Xenios and Philios Dias in them.
Episkopi is a destination that every visitor of Cyprus, no matter which country he is coming from, should put in his schedule. Every single minute is worth being sacrificed to visit it.
