History

The small ancient Sanctuary of Afrodision Iero (Aphrodite Temple) is located near the village Lenika and dates back from 10th century BC. The same place was used in the 2nd BC century for building a larger two-aisled temple of Ares and Aphrodite, as evidenced by inscriptions found here.

At the banks of the river Geropotamos, at position Agia Triada, the Minoans built a small palace that was excavated by the Italian Archaeological School at Athens in 1902-1914. This Royal Villa was built in the 16th century B.C. (New Palace period) and was probably used as a summer villa for the king of Phaestus or as permanent residence after the destruction of Phaestus palace in 1450BC.

Ancient Axos was built on the hill southeast of the modern village and is considered one of the most important ancient towns of ancient Crete. The area was already inhabited since the Preminoan Era, but the city reached its peak during the Archaic period.

Tarra was an ancient city of Crete and seaport of Elyros. Here there was a very famous temple of Apollo and ahealing center. The legend tells that once the god Apollo himself came to Samaria to purify himself by the great priest and healer Karmanor as after killing the Python at Delphi.

Lassea was a harbor of the Roman city Gortys, the capital of crete in Roman Era. Lasea was rich in copper deposits, that was excavated. St Paul mentions the town in his records for his stay on Crete.

Vathipetro is a very small settlement located 4km and 20km south of Archanes and Heraklion, respectively, in a location with spectacular views to Jiouchtas Mount and the vineyards south of it. Next to the village and the road connecting Arhanes to Ligortynos, a Minoan mansion has been excavated.

At the east end of the long beach of Vathianos Kambos (Agii Theodori site) there is a rocky peninsula where we still can distinguish the carved rock that hosted a large shipbuilding yard during the Minoan Era. According to researchers this large carving with length of 48 meters and width of 11 meters, could produce 50m long ships, while on the south there is a smaller carving that probably was used for storing lumber. It is worth noting that the area around has sunk over the centuries the sea and there are bases of Minoan buildings inside and out of the sea. The carving probably flooded with water when the ship was ready to get lowered in water.

Over the hill Patella by Prinias village lies the picturesque chapel of Agios Panteleimon with amazing views towards all directions. It is the site of the Minoan town of Rizinia or Apollonia, which prospered till the Roman period.