Trachis
Trachis(Greek:Τραχίς,Trakhís) was a region in ancientGreece.Situated south of the riverSpercheios,it was populated by theMalians.It was also apolis(city-state).[1]
Its main town was also calledTrachisuntil 426 BC, when it was refounded as a Spartan colony and becameHeraclea Trachinia.It is located to the west ofThermopylae.Trachis is located just west of the westernmost tip of the island ofEuboea,north ofDelphi.Near this place archaeologists discovered tombs from theMycenaeanperiod.[2]
According toGreek mythologyTrachis was the home ofCeyxandAlcyone.Heracleswent to Trachis after the death ofEunomus.The town is mentioned byHomer(as one of the cities subject to Achilles[3]) and for the last time in antiquity byPausanias.[4]
Trachis/Heraclea in ancient and modern times
[edit]In antiquity the settlement was famous for being at the base of the mountain whereHeraclesis said to have died (Mount Oeta) as well as being the place where the descendants of Heracles settled. During theGreco-Persian wars,the fertile plains of Heraclea saw the landing and encampment of the Persian army as they marched toThermopylae.
The settlement formerly known as "Trachis" was renamed "Heraclea in Trachis/Trachinia "by theSpartans,who sent a garrison in 427 BC to guard the Trachinian plain against the marauding highland tribes of Oeta, and built a citadel close by theAsopusgorge.[5]But their attempted settlement during thePeloponnesian warfailed, due to the hostility of theThessalians.[6]For a short time the Spartans were displaced by theThebans.After a bloody defeat at the hands of the neighbouring mountaineers in 409, the Spartan governor quarrelled with the native settlers, whom he expelled in 399. Four years later Thebes used her new predominance in central Greece to restore the Trachinians, who retained Heraclea until 371, when the Thessalonian rulerJason of Pheraeseized and dismantled it. The fortress was rebuilt, and after 280 served theAetoliansas a bulwark againstCeltsandMacedonians.It was captured in 191 by theRomans,but restored to theAetolian Leagueuntil 146, after which it fell into obscurity, andStrabodescribed it as mostly deserted.[5]
During theGreek War of Independencethe area was famous for its resistance fighters orklephts,a term which means mountain fighters or bandits, and includes those who opposed the Turkishharaçpoll tax upon agricultural commodities. InWorld War II,the area saw significant resistance to the Germans. A vital railroad bridge linking southern and northern Greece was destroyed here.
Today the village of Heraclea is a thriving agricultural community. Recent excavations have also revealed a series of small tombs at the foothills of Oeta near the banks of the Asopus river.
References
[edit]- ^Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Thessaly and Adjacent Regions".An inventory of archaic and classical poleis.New York:Oxford University Press.p.713.ISBN0-19-814099-1.
- ^Trachis was identified as a Mycenaean site by R. Hope Simpson and J. F. Lazenby, "The Kingdom of Pelius and Achilles," Antiquity, XXXIII (1933), 103.
- ^Homer Iliad 2.682
- ^Pausanias, Guide to Greece 10.22.1
- ^abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Caspari, Maximilian Otto Bismarck (1911). "Trachis".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 116.
- ^Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.[1],citing Thucydides 3.92http:// perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.%203.92&lang=originaland Diodorus 2.59http:// perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Diod.%2012.59&lang=original
