Elaea (mythology)

This article is about the mythological figure. For other uses, see Elaea (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Elaea (Ancient Greek: Ἐλαία, romanized: Elaia, lit. 'olive') is an Attic girl who won the favour of Athena thanks to her impressive athletic achievements and her beauty, and the envy of the other Atticans for the same reason. Her story shares many elements with that of Myrsine. Her brief tale survives in the works of Nicolaus Sophista, a Greek sophist and rhetor who lived during the fifth century AD.

Mythology

Elaea was an extremely athletic girl who outdid all girls in beauty and all boys in strength, winning herself the favour of Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom and patron-goddess of Attica. Elaea beat all her opponents in both the ring and the race, who grew resentful of her. Many of her fellow athletes whom she had beaten then decided to murder her out of envy. But Athena took pity in her favourite, and for Athena's sake Gaia, the goddess of the earth, metamorphosed the dead girl into an olive tree, which was the most sacred tree associated with Athens and Athena. A similar, almost word-for-word, story was also told about another maiden, Myrsine, who was changed into a myrtle shrub.

See also

• Arachne
• Myrina
• Myrmex

Bibliography

• Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
• Westermann, Anton (1843). Μυθογραφοι. Scriptores poeticæ historiæ Græci. Edidit A. W. Gr.