Analiondas is a small village with about 350 inhabitants, located at an altitude of 380 meters and at a distance of 20 kilometres south of Nicosia.
It receives an average annual rainfall of about 425 millimetres, the main crops being olives, cereals, vegetables, almonds, and other fruit-bearing trees. It has gone through an increase of population during the past few years with the turnover of the urban pull "plague". Before the first bi-communal clashes in the 50s, it was a mixed village with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot inhabitants.

Katalyontas was a small settlement -about one kilometre from the village -where Turkish-Cypriots lived during the British domination between 1925 and 1959. Administratively the region comes under Analyontas. In the last population census of 2001 the village's inhabitants were 300. Analyontas is located within the wider region of Tamassos, the kingdom of which extended up to Mathiatis in the east and Agrokipia in the west, according to archaeologists. The monastery of Archangel Michael stands on top of a hill south-east of the village.

History - Name

There are several interpretations regarding the name of our village. According to one of those, Analiondas took its name from the verb "analyo" (analyse, break down into components), because during ancient times -and specifically during the period when the processing of copper flourished in the region of Tamassos -apart from the copper mines in the village's area there also were venues where the minerals were "broken down". Venues, that is, where the ancient people processed them so at to extract -mainly -copper and gold. A proof of this fact is that there are piles of rocks south of the village -known as "skourka" (rust) -which are the remains of this process.

Another interpretation is that Analyontas's name came from the word "leontas" (lion). S. Menardos reports that there were two feuds in the region during the Venice domination era.
One of them in " Analiondas " (Ano-Liontas, Upper Lion) and one in Katalyontas (Kato-Liontas, Lower Lion). As it is well known, the lion is the animal related to the Evangelist Mark, the patron Saint of the Venetian, which had it as a symbol and a coat of arms. In every Venetian map made around 1500 AD, the village is marked under the name Anolido and Katolido.

The region of Analyontas was inhabited since ancient times. In the "Kourvellos" venue, located south-east of our village, a French archaeological expedition detected findings and tools from the Neolithic era (4,800 AD), that is, being of the same era with the settlement in Choirokitia. There is no settlement in the area today because, according to the conclusions of the archaeological expedition, the place was used as a temporary dwelling.

Furthermore, according to tradition, there formerly was a settlement in the "Petrera" venue, located only five hundred meters south-west of the village, the ruins of which today are large piles of stones and that is why the region was name "Petrera" (petra =stone).

According to Gunnis, there must have been an important Roman settlement in Analyontas, judging from the countless tombs of that era that were discovered in the area. Only in April of 1992, a tomb of the Roman era was found in the "Mazovounos" venue, containing priceless pots and golden jewels.

Nearchos Clerides reports that during the times of the Frank domination -and also during the Byzantine period -the village was famous for the many miracles of St George, the small church in Katalyontas that today is in ruins, the Saint's miraculous icon being kept in the church of St Marina for a long period of time and then in the Archdiocese. Older inhabitants proclaim that the Turkish-Cypriot big landowner from Katalyontas, Chilmi Bey, would lit the vigil-light of St George. Besides, under the chapel there was an underground tunnel that led to a crypt used by the Christians during times of persecution.