These farms were taken over by the largest land owner in the Byzantine Empire-the monasteries.
A Byzantine monastery from the 5th century was also discovered.
The church is built on the ruins of a Byzantine monastery that the Franks destroyed in the 14th century.
The Byzantine monastery has disappeared completely, except for an underground cistern which lies southeast of the mosque.
This has been identified as a collection vat for wine, above which once stood a winery, a common feature of the Byzantine monasteries.
His aghiasma ("holy font") became a popular center of local pilgrimage, and here a Byzantine monastery was founded in the 11th century.
The building is thus believed to have belonged to a Byzantine monastery.
Near the village lies the island that bears the same name, and a Byzantine monastery dedicated to Virgin Mary.
It was originally inhabited by several Byzantine monasteries.
Ruins of a Byzantine monastery, once silk was made here too.