Sia
During the period of the Arab raids, which lasted for more than a thousand years (500–1500 AD), organized military invasions frequently took place. These were raiding forces led by warlords who carried out looting and pillaging, seizing people’s harvests, livestock, and even the people themselves to sell in slave markets.
These raids mainly targeted the southern coastal areas of the island. After plundering the coastlines, the stronger raiding groups would head inland toward the capital, which always offered richer spoils. Their route to Nicosia followed the road constructed by the Romans (“Sierostrata,” as the locals called it), approximately along today’s Nicosia–Limassol road.
The community was located near this passage, but the raiding forces could not easily discover it because it was built within a basin surrounded by mountains densely covered with tall trees, mainly pine forests and thick vegetation. In this way, it remained hidden from the invaders’ sight because it lay within a sheltered hollow (“siasma” in Greek). This is how the community of Sia is believed to have received its name.
The basin in which the community was built not only provided defensive protection through its natural concealment, but also offered everything necessary for survival. Two rivers flowed through the area year-round. The land between the rivers (about one kilometer apart) is mainly rocky and elevated above the riverbeds, protecting the village from flooding.
Next to the rivers were fertile fields formed by alluvial deposits, capable of producing all kinds of agricultural products.
Logging, which at the time was the main source of heating and energy, was both easy and profitable, as the community supplied timber to the surrounding lowland villages.
Its geographical location, together with the fact that it is the first pine-covered semi-mountainous area after Nicosia, makes it highly desirable today for permanent residence.