Elasioi

According to Plutarch, in Greek mythology, the Elasioi (Ancient Greek: Ἐλάσιοι, meaning 'Averters' or 'Expellers'; in Latin, 'Elasii') were thought in Argos to be the descendants of Alexida, daughter of Amphiaraus, with the power to avert epileptic attacks.

Theodor Panofka and Leonard Schmitz call them 'divinities'. Temkin Owsei describes them as healers 'probably of a magic type', whilst Eduard Thraemer calls them Heilheroen ('healing heroes'). Outside of the brief reference in Plutarch, they are not mentioned in surviving sources.

References

  1. ↑ Plutarch (1906). The Greek questions of Plutarch with a new translation & commentary. Translated by Halliday, William. p. 116.
  2. ↑ The George Peabody Library, The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries; Panofka, Theodor. Asklepios und die Asklepiaden (in German). p. 14.
  3. ↑ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alexida". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Little, Brown and Company. p. 128.
  4. ↑ Temkin, Owsei (1945). The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. p. 18.
  5. ↑ Eduard Thraemer: "Elasioi" (in German). In: Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Vol. V,2, Stuttgart, 1905, col. 2235.
  6. ↑ Plutarch (1906). The Greek questions of Plutarch with a new translation & commentary. Translated by Halliday, William. p. 119.