Agioi Deka are located on a verdant hill on the northern side of the fertile Mesara plain in the southern region of Heraklion, Crete. From an altitude of 170 meters they look down on the endless Cretan olive groves and offer a wonderful view of the villages of the plain and ideal access to the archaeological site of Gortyna.

The village is actually built on the outskirts of the ancient city, at a point where it is believed that one of its cemeteries was located. When rebuilding, the first inhabitants used materials from the ancient ruins and, to this day, the built-in fragments of the ancient world are still visible on the facades of the oldest houses, such as inscriptions, capitals and carved stones.

This place has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. Here once lived Minoans, Achaeans, Dorians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Ottomans and Greeks, who sacrificed themselves in the struggle for the liberation of Crete from the Sultan.

The current village owes its name to the ten Cretan Christians who were martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Decius in 250 AD. church and was founded in the 12th century on the spot where they were tortured and killed. Visitors to the church can see below the iconostasis the marble on which they knelt before being beheaded. The marks on the marble are the imprinted kneelers of the Saints. Their remains are buried under the chapel of Agia Leni, on the edge of the village, and their memory is commemorated every year two days before Christmas on December 23.