 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.It became a place of historical importance in consequence of the colony founded here by the Lacedaemonians in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War, 426 BC.The Trachinians (a tribe of the Malians) and the neighbouring Dorians, who suffered much from the predatory incursions of the Oetaean mountaineers, solicited aid from the Spartans, who eagerly availed themselves of this opportunity to plant a strong colony in this commanding situation.