Thermeia (also Thermia) is a small Greek community of the occupied district of Keryneia. It lies 1 kilometre south-east of Keryneia, at an altitude of 30 metres, on level land crossed by streams running from the Pentadaktylos to the sea. In the village stands the house of the poet Dimitris Lipertis, a declared ancient monument. In the 1960 census it had 144 inhabitants, of whom 140 were Greeks.

Name

The origin of the name has not been studied by a linguist. The official place-name index of Cyprus (the Gazetteer) writes «Θέρμεια», while in most sources, and in the 1960 census, the village is called «Θέρμια».¹ In English sources of the first years of British rule it is written “Thermia”. According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the people of the area also called it “Pano Keryneia” (Upper Keryneia).²

Founding and first records

According to the tradition recorded by the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, Thermeia was formerly a quarter of Keryneia itself and not a village. It is believed to have been founded by inhabitants of the town who moved inland in the medieval Greek period of the Arab raids, to protect themselves from the raids that struck mainly the coasts. This origin also explains the name “Pano Keryneia”.³

The oldest written record of Thermeia located is the Ottoman land survey of 1832/33, where it is recorded as a chiftlik, that is a large farm estate.

Turkish rule

In the land survey carried out by the Ottoman administration in 1832/33, which recorded only those who owned property, the chiftlik of Thermeia had two Christian households with property. The church of the Archangel is also recorded as an owner. On its land there were a large wheat field, a cotton field, a threshing floor and running water, and 710 trees, olives and carobs. The chiftlik had an olive press and a carob mill, a pair of oxen and a mule.⁴

British rule

In the first years of British rule the map of Cyprus drawn by the British officer Horatio Herbert Kitchener still marks Thermeia as a chiftlik (“Thermia Chiftlik”).⁵ It is also described as a chiftlik by the British architect George Jeffery, who recorded the monuments of Cyprus at the beginning of the 20th century.⁶

Churches and monasteries

The Greek Orthodox church of the village, of the Panagia, also known as Panagia Thermeiotissa, stands at the north-east edge of the old core of the village, inside the cemetery. The 2009 list of occupied churches of the Church of Cyprus dates it to the 15th and 17th centuries, and it is an Ancient Monument. Jeffery describes it as a small old church in a folk style and notes that, according to tradition, English sailors were buried in its cemetery.⁷

Economy and society

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, before 1974 the inhabitants grew mainly citrus, lemons, oranges and mandarins, and cereals, and a few olives, while livestock was limited to poultry. It was one of the smallest villages of the district in area.⁸

Population

The population of Thermeia remained small but grew steadily. According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the village had 63 inhabitants in 1891, 71 in 1901, 94 in 1911 and 94 in 1921.⁹ In 1931 the village had 93 inhabitants, 92 Christians and one Muslim, and in 1946 134, all Orthodox (the 1931 and 1946 censuses recorded only religion). In 1960 it had 144 inhabitants, 140 Greeks and 4 English, and in 1973 147 Greeks.

National struggles

The Register of EOKA Fighters records 5 Greek inhabitants of the village who took part in or supported the Struggle.

The Turkish invasion of 1974

During the Turkish invasion of 1974 Thermeia was captured by the Turkish army and its Greek population was subjected to ethnic cleansing. The Cyprus Government reported to the European Commission of Human Rights that on 2 August 1974 about 600 inhabitants of Thermeia and the neighbouring villages of Karmi, Trimithi, Kazafani and Agios Georgios were taken by the Turkish forces to the confrontation line and expelled.¹⁰ Those who remained in the village were enclaved; according to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the last were expelled in March 1976.¹¹ Since then the Turkish occupation forces and the illegal occupation authority prevent the inhabitants’ return.

Six dead of 1974 are recorded at Thermeia: one soldier, who was killed in the area of the village, and five civilians, inhabitants of the village, who were killed or died in it, some of them while enclaved.

The 2009 list records the church of the Panagia as desecrated and looted. It was later renovated, without the bell and the cross of the bell tower, and is now used illegally as a venue for cultural events. In the cemetery around it some of the old crosses were set up again, but not in their original places.¹²