Women of Trachis or The Trachiniae (Ancient Greek: Τραχίνιαι, Trachiniai) c. 450–425 BC, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles.

Women of Trachis is generally considered to be less developed than Sophocles' other works, and its dating has been a subject of disagreement among critics and scholars.

After Hyllus sets off, a messenger arrives with word that Heracles, victorious in his recent battle, is making offerings on Cape Cenaeum and coming home soon to Trachis.

Unable to cope with the thought of her husband falling for this younger woman, she decides to use a love charm on him, a magic potion that will win him back.

Deianeira dyes a robe with the blood and has Lichas carry it to Heracles with strict instructions that no one else is to wear it, and that it is to be kept in the dark until he puts it on.

He was in such pain and fury that he killed Lichas, the deliverer of the gift: "he made the white brain to ooze from the hair, as the skull was dashed to splinters, and blood scattered therewith" (as translated by Sir Richard C. Jebb).

The dying Heracles is carried to his home in horrible pain and furious over what he believes was a murder attempt by his wife.

Hyllus explains the truth, and Heracles realizes that the prophecies about his death have come to pass: He was to be killed by someone who was already dead, and it turned out to be Nessus.

[2] In earlier known versions of this story, Deianeira has several masculine qualities, similar to those of Clytemnestra – who, in the Oresteia, purposely kills her husband Agamemnon.

[2] Hoey also sees echoes of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, particularly in the relevance of Women of Trachis to debates that were occurring during the 450s on the "relationship between knowledge and responsibility.

[3] Whitman believes the two plays represent "another large step in the metaphysics of evil, to which Sophocles devoted his life.

[5] Vickers believes that the link to current events and to Sparta accounts for why Heracles is portrayed so coldly in the play.