Originally called Trachis (Τραχίς), or by Strabo, Trachin (Τραχίν), the city was in the region of Malis, in the district called after, it Trachinia. It was located on a rocky plateau above the left bank of the Asopos River, at the point where it leaves Mount Oeta for the plain of Lamia. It stood in a little to the north or rather west of Thermopylae, thus commanding the approach to Thermopylae from Thessaly, and was, from its position, of great military importance. The entrance to the Trachinian plain was only half a plethrum [] in breadth, but the surface of the plain was 22,000 plethra [], according to Herodotus. The same writer states that the city Trachis was 5 stadia from the river Melas, and that the river Asopus issued from a gorge in the mountains, to the south of Trachis. According to Thucydides, Trachis was 40 stadia from Thermopylae and 20 from the sea. Trachis (as Trachin) is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer as one of the cities subject to Achilles, and is celebrated in the legends of Heracles as the scene ofthis hero's death.