Gortyna was the chief city of Crete during the Roman period. Its city walls were nearly 6 miles long, and its population may have reached 100,000 people. According to Greek legend, Zeus married Europa under the plane tree in Gortyna; thus this tree was permitted to remain forever green.

The major ancient site of Gortyna is the ruins of the Temple of Pythian Apollo. The rectangular outline of the sanctuary and most of the altar remain.

Other ancient Greek sites of interest in Gortyna include the Temple of Isis and Serapis and the Odeon, where archaeologists found the famous law code of Gortys (500 BC).

St. Titus church & ancient law code. Gortys (Gortyna) was an extremely important city during the early christrian period till the Arab conquest. According to tradition, Gortyna was the first city of Crete to accept Christianity. It was the see of the Apostle Titus, first bishop of Crete, whose name bears the basilica. St Titus' s church is a cross - shaped three - aisled Basilica with cupola; the northern and the southern arm of the cross end up in conchs. The church was built with rectangular hewn stones and is dated in the 7th century A.D. The church was restored after the recapture of Crete the 10th century. Remains of the Archaic habitation (7th century B.C.) were located in the area of the Acropolis, while the large inscription, the Gortyn Law Code, dated to the 5th century B.C., attests the prosperity of the city, which continued until the Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd century B.C.). Gortyn became an ally of Rome and during the Roman period (1st-5th centuries A.D.) reached the peak of its prosperity as the capital of the province of Crete and Cyrene. Here, Apostle Titus preached Christianity and in A.D. 250 the Ten Saints martyred. In A.D. 824 the city, which had become the seat of an Archbishop, was destroyed by the Arabs. The first investigations on the site were conducted in 1884 by the Italian archaeologist F. Halbherr. Since then, excavations have been carried out by the Italian Archaeological School and the 23rd Ephorate.

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