Atrax (, or Ἄτραγος or Ἄτρακοϛ) or Atracia (Ἀτρακία) was a Perrhaebian town in

ancient Thessaly Thessaly or Thessalia (Attic Greek: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of ...

, described by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

as situated above the river Peneius, at the distance of about from

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

says that the Peneius passed by the cities of

Tricca Tricca or Trikka ( or Τρίκκα) was a city and polis (city-state) of ancient Thessaly in the district Histiaeotis, standing upon the left bank of the Peneius, and near a small stream called Lethaeus. This city is said to have derived its n ...

Pelinnaeum Pelinna () or Pelinnaeum () was an ancient Greek polis (city-state) of Ancient Thessaly, in the district Histiaeotis, a little above the left bank of the Peneius. The city had a celebrated temple of Zeus Pelinnaeus. Pelinna was situated betwe ...

and Pharcadon, on its left, on its course to Atrax and Larissa. The town is attested as Ἆδρακος in the

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...

in a catalog of ''

theorodokoi The ''theorodokoi'' ( Greek: , ) in ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a ...

'' of

Epidaurus Epidaurus () was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epi ...

, dating from 363-359 BCE. It was also a

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

(city-state) in antiquity.

History

The town was located in the district of

Pelasgiotis Pelasgiotis () was an elongated district of ancient Thessaly, extending from the Vale of Tempe in the north to the city of Pherae in the south. The Pelasgiotis included the following localities: Argos Pelasgikon, Argyra, Armenium, Atrax, Crannon ...

and its territory was bordered on the north by Phalanna, the northeast by Argura, and to the south by

Crannon Cranon () or Crannon (Κραννών) was a town and polis (city-state) of Pelasgiotis, in ancient Thessaly, situated southwest of Larissa, and at the distance of 100 stadion (unit), stadia from Gyrton (Thessaly), Gyrton, according to Strabo. Sp ...

. In the 5th century BCE, the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

and the slope of the hill were enclosed in a polygonal enclosure. In the 4th century BCE the acropolis was rebuilt: a quadrangular tower was built and fortified with a new wall with five towers, one of them with a fortified gate. The eastern part of the wall of the hill was reinforced in the 4th century BCE, And bears similarity to the defensive constructions of Halos. The lower part was enclosed in the 4th century BCE by an

opus isodomum ''Opus isodomum'' ("work of equal height") is an ancient technique of wall construction with ashlars. It uses perfectly cut, completely regular squared stone blocks of equal height, and sometimes of the same length. Etymology '' opus'', work + ' ...

wall with four quadrangular towers. It was long and surrounded an area of . The main gate was in the northwest, and was accessed by a polygonal stone ramp. During the food crisis of 330-326 BCE Atrax received 10,000 '' medimnoi'' of wheat from Cyrene, in Africa. Atrax still minted silver and bronze coins at the beginning of the 4th century BCE, With the legends «ΑΤΡΑ», «ΑΤΡΑΓΙΟΝ», and «ΑΤΡΑΓΙΩΝ». The famous Atrakian marble that was widely used in antiquity, among others in the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, did not come from Atrax itself, but in Mount Mopsion further east. In

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times, the city's fortifications were extended with a mortar wall to the Peneius, in order to improve water supply. The fortress served to control of the passage between the eastern and western halves of the

Thessalian plain The Thessalian plain () is the dominant geographical feature of the Greek region of Thessaly. The plain is formed by the Pineios River and its tributaries and is surrounded by mountains: the Pindus mountain range to the west, which separates The ...

Location

Modern scholars locate Atrax at a site known as Kastro or Alifaka, near the modern village of Koutsochero (), in the municipal unit of Koilada, in the municipality of

. Most ancient and medieval structures have vanished in recent times, being removed by the locals to utilize the land for agriculture.

References

{{reflist Populated places in ancient Thessaly Former populated places in Greece Pelasgiotis Larissa (regional unit) Perrhaebia Thessalian city-states Byzantine sites in Thessaly