Some called Rouma a cursed village because of the plague that wiped out its population. Rouma was a small settlement that was built amphitheatrically on a hill, in the administrative boundaries of Alagni. Its name testifies that it was surrounded by a stream (“rema”). In fact, even today, under the hill, there is plenty of water and a forest with oaks and plane trees. 

It is said that the plague hit Rouma so fast and hard that all its inhabitants died, and their houses and properties were deserted. But there are also different oral accounts of what happened. Some say that the people who survived moved to Alagni village, while others speak of a last remaining resident of the village who bequeathed his property to the Monastery of Agios Georgios Epanosifis and the Army Fund. 

That Rouma has a long past is undeniable. The oldest mention of it is found in a document of 1395, in the Ducal Archive of Khandaka, where a resident is given permission to be ordained as a priest, following his request to the feudal lord Thoma Quirino. In fact, it is speculated that the tower, part of which can still be seen among piles of stones in the ruined village, was the residence of the specific feudal family. 

A surface survey has been carried out in the area by the archaeologist Nikolaos Panagiotakis who identified a settlement dating from the Minoan Neopalatial Period (1700-1450 BC) while a little further down, in the place called Kato Rouma, a settlement from the Mycenaean Period was found.