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.[1]
Theodor Panofka and Leonard Schmitz call them 'divinities'.[2][3] Temkin Owsei describes them as healers 'probably of a magic type',[4] whilst Eduard Thraemer calls them Heilheroen ('healing heroes').[5] Outside of the brief reference in Plutarch, they are not mentioned in surviving sources.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ Plutarch (1906). The Greek questions of Plutarch with a new translation & commentary. Translated by Halliday, William. p. 116.
- ↑ The George Peabody Library, The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries; Panofka, Theodor. Asklepios und die Asklepiaden (in German). p. 14.
- ↑ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alexida". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Little, Brown and Company. p. 128.
- ↑ Temkin, Owsei (1945). The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. p. 18.
- ↑ Eduard Thraemer: "Elasioi" (in German). In: Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Vol. V,2, Stuttgart, 1905, col. 2235.
- ↑ Plutarch (1906). The Greek questions of Plutarch with a new translation & commentary. Translated by Halliday, William. p. 119.