Atrax (Thessaly)

The town was located in the district of Pelasgiotis and its territory was bordered on the north by Phalanna, the northeast by Argura, and to the south by Crannon. The lower part was enclosed in the 4th century BCE by an opus isodomum 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. 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, did not come from Atrax itself, but in Mount Mopsion further east. In Byzantine 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. ==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 Larissa. Most ancient and medieval structures have vanished in recent times, being removed by the locals to utilize the land for agriculture. ==References==