Sivas is one of the most beautiful villages in the Festos municipality, in the south-west side of Mesara plain.

The settlement is built 110 meters above the sea level and is 62 kilometers from Heraclion. The village has been declared as a traditional, protected settlement by the ministry of Culture.

According to the 2011 census, 426 people live in the settlement and their main occupations are agriculture and tourism, as many of them run restaurants and hotels or guest houses.

HISTORY

Agios Ioannis Ksenos or Agios Kir Giannis was born in the village who has worked on the resurgence of the Orthodoxy of Crete, after the Liberation from Saracens by Nikiforos Fokas in 961.

The village is stated in a 1271 record.

PLACE NAME

There are many views on the origin of the name of the settlement. According to the first one, it comes from the Indian god, Shiva, or the famous oasis in Egypt, where the temple of Ammonas of Zeus was built and Great Alexander had also visited.

It is also believed that the name is related to the Latin word “Silva” that means forest.

The most possible origin of the place name is the Arabic word “Siva” that means spring.

CHURCHES

The Agios Ioannis Prodromos church and the Agios Nikolaos, Agia Marina, Agios Spiridonas, Profitis Ilias and Agios Georgios country churches are in the village.