In Greek mythology, the Elasioi (Ancient Greek: Ἐλάσιοι, meaning 'Averters' or 'Expellers'; in Latin, 'Elasii') were minor personages with power to avert epileptic attacks.[1] In the case of someone suffering an epileptic episode in progress, they were sometimes said to cure the ailment by banishing it into the bodies of wild goats.[2]

Yet, their role in society beyond the former remains unclear. Most seem to regard them as divinities of healing; some conflate them with an Argive incarnation of The Dioskouroi[1] (which implies that there are only two, and that both are male), though other sources claim they are female [3] (without regard for their number), and some seem to imply that they were simply mortal magicians or wizards [2] (and takes no regard of either specific number or gender).

Either way, the Elasioi were said to be children[1] or descendants[4] of the heroine Alexida, daughter of the deified Amphiaraus.

References

^ a b c Plutarch (author); Goodwin, William W. (trans.) (1906). Essays & Miscellanies.... p. 276.
^ a b Owsei Temkin (author) (1945). The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. p. 18.
^ G. Rodney Avant (author) (2005). A Mythological Reference. p. 248.
^ William Smith (editor) (1880). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Volume 1. p. 128.

Greek Mythology

See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings