Atrax ( grc, Ἄτραξ, or Ἄτραγϕϛ 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 period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribes ...

, 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 in ...

as situated above the river Peneius, at the distance of about from Larissa. Strabo says that the Peneius passed by the cities of Tricca, Pelinnaeum and Pharcadon, on its left, on its course to Atrax and Larissa. The town is attested as Ἆδρακος in the nominative in a catalog of '' theorodokoi'' of Epidaurus, dating from 363-359 BCE. It was also a

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

(city-state) in antiquity.

History

The town was located in the district of

Pelasgiotis Pelasgiotis ( grc, Πελασγιῶτις, Pelasgiōtis) 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 Pela ...

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

Crannon Cranon ( grc, Κρανών) 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 stadia from Gyrton, according to Strabo. Spelling differ ...

. In the 5th century BCE, the acropolis 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 + ''is ...

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 minted silver and bronze coins at the beginning of the 4th century BCE, With the legends «ΑΤΡΑ», «ΑΤΡΑΓΙΟΝ», and «ΑΤΡΑΓΙΩΝ».

Location

Modern scholars locate Atrax at a ''kastro'' called Alifaka in the modern village of Koutsochero ( el, Κουτσόχερο), in the municipal unit of Koilada, in the municipality of Larissa.

References

Populated places in ancient Thessaly Former populated places in Greece Pelasgiotis Larissa (regional unit) Perrhaebia Thessalian city-states {{AncientThessaly-geo-stub