Elymus was aTrojan, a natural son ofAnchises[1][AI-generated source?] and the half-brother ofEryx throughAphrodite.[2][AI-generated source?] Previous to the emigration ofAeneas, also a son of Anchises, Elymus andAcestes had fled from Troy to Sicily, and had settled on the banks of the riverCrinisus, in the country of theSicani. When afterwards the Trojan refugees led by Aeneas also arrived there, Elymus built for them the towns ofSegesta andElyme, and the Trojans who settled in that part of Sicily called themselves Elymi, after Elymus.[3]
Strabo[4] calls him Elymnus, and says that he went to Sicily with Aeneas, and that they together took possession of the cities ofEryx andLilybaeum. Elymus was further believed to have foundedAsca andEntella in Sicily.[5]
In theAeneid,Vergil has Elymnus competing in thefuneral games held on Sicily for Anchises, in the footrace in whichNisus and Euryalus are introduced.[6] AsHelymus, he is also listed among the competitors byHyginus, who says he finished second to Euryalus and was awarded anAmazonianquiver.[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.