Sfentili is different from the other villages in Crete.
The seaside village is located 38 kilometres from Heraklion and became famous when it began to sink.
For the past 17 years, the abandoned village has been submerging then resurfacing due to the artificial lake of the Aposelemi dam, Protothema reported.
After the villagers left Sfentili, the church of Agios Theodoros had sunk midway.
In 2015 most of it was covered, but now it is starting to emerge due to the prolonged drought Crete is experiencing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvmE2XACbP4
Sfentili is at an altitude of 210 meters and the earliest evidence of the existence of the village dates back to 1577, on the list of Fr. Barozzi.
In 1583 it is referred as Sfendigli with 78 residents. In the first Turkish census (1671) the settlement (Isfendil) has 9 Christian families.
In the census of 1881 it belonged to the Municipality of Mohos, in 1900 it is listed in the Municipality of Lagada and since 1920 in the rural Municipality of Potamia, and in the community of Potamia since 1928.
The name of the settlement is antroponymous.
The family name Sfendilos is testified in Crete and surely its first inhabitant would have had this name. During the years of Venetian rule, it was a fief of the Latin diocese of Hersonissos as early as 1248.
Recently, 65 skeletons were found in the area, by archaeologist Athanasia Kanda, which according to research may come from a Minoan cemetery.
