1. Introduction

Kyriaki is built on the western slopes of Mt Helicon in a verdant landscape of firs, at an altitude of approximately 750m. Its population is approximately 2500. The former Community of Kyriaki, nowadays subsumed to the Municipality of Livadia, also included the settlements Panayia Kalamiotissa (Karachalios), Tarsos, Karioti and Ayios Athanasios.

2. Antiquity

Ancient architectural remains survive in the area in the location of Palaiokastro, a hill west of the settlement. These consist in the surviving traces of three defensive walls and two towers in the north and west side of the walls, including remains of other structures. Some scholars identify these remains with the acropolis of the ancient Phocian city of Phlygonium. Phlygonium was situated on the borders of the area controlled by the Delphic Oracle and is mentioned as part of a confederacy (a sympoliteia) with the city of Ambrossus. It was one of the cities destroyed by the Persian army of Xerxes as it passed through Phocis. By the 4th cent. BC because of its strategic geographical location, the city had become deeply embroiled in the clash between the Oracle of Delphi and its neighbouring cities over the cultivation of lands sacred to Apollo, as attested by Demosthenes and Aeschines.
It was destroyed again in 346 BC during the Third Sacred War by Phillip II, together with other Phocian cities. Phillip carried out the punishment decided by the Delphic Amphictyony on the Phocians because they were cultivating part of the valley of Amphissa, an area considered property of the Oracle, as mentioned by Pausanias. It is thought, however, that the area continued to be inhabited in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as its name is attested in Delphic texts. It was finally destroyed by a powerful earthquake in the 6th cent. AD. Some scholars, however, identify the area of Kyriaki with ancient Trachis, while others with ancient Heliconium.

Ancient Medeon is thought to have been built in the area of Ayioi Theodoroi – by the time of Pausanias this settlement was already in ruins. The history of the ancient city apparently spans a period from c. 2500 BC to the late 2nd cent. BC, as habitation traces dating back to the Middle Helladic period have been discovered. The site was probably abandoned in the 1st cent. BC. Excavations conducted in the 1960s revealed sections of a city wall dating to various periods, with the acropolis on the SE corner and the lower city to the NW. A large Mycenaean tholos tomb, an extended necropolis within the walls, and a Roman villa adorned with mosaic floors, a bath and olive press have also been unearthed. As attested by Pausanias, the same area probably contained the site of ancient city of Boulis, from which traces of fortifications survive, while pottery finds suggest the site was inhabited from the Early Helladic to the Early Byzantines periods.

Traces of habitation, dating mainly to the Classical and Hellenistic periods have also been identified in the seaside settlement of Tarsus. Most scholars believe this is the site of the Phocian city of Opisthomarathus, also attested by Strabo. The site Kastro at Tarsus preserves traces of fortifications, while Palaiotarsos, in the area of a village abandoned since the Ottoman period, the remains of an deserted Classical period settlement have come to light. Between Kastro and the settlement stands a square tower, also dating to that period.

3. Middle Ages and Modern Period: monasteries and churches

We have no testimonies concerning habitation in the area during the Byzantine period. The most important surviving monument from the Middle Ages is the monastery of Ayioi Theodoroi, built of a steep cliff offering a sweeping view of the Corinthian Gulf. Historical sources and finds testify to continuous habitation of this site since the 7th cent. AD. It probably functioned as an observation post tracking the movement of ships sailing in the Corinthian Gulf.
By the 10th century, a number of hermits and other ascetics begun settling on the cliff, spurred by the presence of Hosios Lucas of Steiris in the region. In the period of Ottoman rule an ascetery existed on the cliff, but after the 1821 Greek War of Independence the site was abandoned and became desolate. In 1994 an ongoing restoration project was commenced in the site. Nowadays a monastic complex occupies the peak of the cliff; it contains two churches, dedicated to Saint Jerome and Saint David respectively, and a library.

On the basis of the -scanty- available evidence, the small monastery of Hosios Niketas, perched on the cliff of ‘Sid Irgid’, on the way to the settlement of Panayia Kalamiotissa, dates to the 12th century. This is where Saint Nicetas spent his entire life in prayer. In the years of Ottoman rule an ascetery operated with monks originating from the monastery of Hosios Serapheim. This is also attested by the ruined cells and the surviving cistern.

The seaside settlement of Kyriaki features the church of Panayia Kalamiotissa. According to the hagiographer of Hosios Loucas of Steiris, Loukas spent three years there as a monk (939-942). After the establishment of the monastery of Hosios Loukas the church remained a dependency, while it is also mentioned in a number of sigils, like that of Patriarch Neophytos in 1611 and Gregory V in 1789. A church dedicated to the Virgin Mary nowadays survives with one Theodosian column capital in its interior, while two inscriptions commemorating restoration works carried out in 1622 and 1803 have been incorporated on the semicircular lintel of the entrance.

4. Middle Ages and Modern Period: Historical evidence

It is impossible to pinpoint the period when the area was renamed to Kyriaki (Κυριάκι or Κυριάκη in Greek, the latter spelling is attested in older texts). The place name probably dates to the Byzantine period or the 14th century, when the Arvanites begun settling in the area. Popular tradition relates that the village took its name from one wealthy stock breeder called Kyriakos, whose flocks of sheep were so sizeable their wool choked the flow of the river’s water. According to other sources, the community was named after the powerful family of Kyriakes. Furthermore, the Theban codices -the land register of Thebes dating back to the 11th-12th centuries- mentions a person named Kyriakos, although his connection -if any- with the village remains unclear.

With respect to the settlement of Arvanites in Kyriaki, it is attested that in the late 14th century Ramon de Villanova, the Catalan duke of Athens and Hypate, invited populations of Arvanites to come settle in the north, south and west of Boeotia as farmers and warriors . It is also believed the village is at least as old as the neighbouring villages of Ayia Triada and Ayia Anna, which are mentioned (under their earlier names, Steveniko and Koukoura respectively) in Ottoman tax records dating to 1466.

In the Greek War of Independence, the inhabitants of Kyriaki fought alongside the chieftains of Roumeli, Athanassios Diakos, Vassilis Mpousgos and Odysseas Androutsos.

In the German Occupation in WWII, Kyriaki was the centre of an allied military organization, and the village was burned to the ground three times: on 25/5/1943 by the Italians, and on 3/10/1943 and 26/4/1944 by the Germans.

5. Economy - Demographic data

The village’s economy relies on animal husbandry, mainly goat-farming, and to a lesser degree on agriculture (mainly olive trees, cotton and logging). After WWII there was a strong migratory current with people leaving the village for various destinations, overseas (USA, Canada, Australia, Germany) as well as the urban centres of Greece (Livadia, Athens). From the 1960s a significant number of the village's population (approximately 300 persons) went into the aluminium industry. Agritourism has been a growing business in the area in recent years. For this reason, a number of traditional cheese-making workshops, traditional lodgings, taverns and coffee shops have been established.

6. Natural environment

Kyriaki is surrounded by areas of immense natural beauty. We should mention the area of Mpamplouki, which enjoys an enchanting vista to the Corinthian Gulf, and Arvanitsa, a lovely verdant place full of firs, situated between the two highest peaks of Mt Helicon.