HERAKLEIA TRACHINIA
Central Greece.
A city situated at the beginning of the Malian plain on
the gulf of the same name and on the road from Brallo
to Lamia, slightly W of the gorge of the Asopos, S of
Lamia.
Founded in 426 B.C. by the Spartans as a strategic
post on the Pass of Thermopylai (
Thuc. 3.92), Herakleia
dominated the low valley of the Spercheios, replacing
ancient Trachis where Herakles had taken refuge in
exile. It was named after the Dorian hero. Its neighbors
(Boiotia) contended with Sparta for the city, which
thereafter was attacked and razed by Jason of Pherai
in 371 (
Xen. Hell. 6.4.27;
Diod. 15.57.2). It joined the
Delphic Amphictyony, then the Aitolian League, aiding
Antiochos in his struggle against Acilius Glabrio.
The site is established by
JG IX.2.1 and by Vardates'
manumission. It lay in the plain between the ravines of
the Asopos and Skliphomeli, where sections of the rampart have been found and even 10 isodomic courses of
a wall. Inside it is a 55 m stretch of aqueduct; the gymnasium (
Liv. 36.22) apparently was situated near the
road to Brallo. Neither the tomb of Deianira (
Paus.
2.23.5) nor the Sanctuary of Artemis (
Liv. 36.22) has
been located. Both sides of Skliphomeli are hollowed out
in many places, the cavities serving as rock tombs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Stählin,
Das hellenische Thessalien
(1924, repr. 1967) 207
P; Y. Béquignon,
La Valée du
Spercheios (1937) 243-60
MPI; G. Daux,
BCH 58 (1934)
156-67; W. K. Pritchett,
Ancient Greek Topography
(1965) I 81-82.
Y. BEQUIGNON
