Elabontas, a river near Antioch. Strabo.
Elæa, a town of Æolia. Livy, bk. 36, ch. 43. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 5.——An island in the Propontis.
Elæus, a part of Epirus.——A surname of Jupiter.——A town of the Thracian Chersonesus. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 16; bk. 37, ch. 9.
Elagabālus, the surname of the sun at Emessa.
Elāites, a grove near Canopus in Egypt.
Elaius, a mountain of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 41.
Elaphiæa, a surname of Diana in Elis. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 22.
Elăphus, a river of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 36.
Elaphebŏlia, a festival in honour of Diana the huntress. In the celebration a cake was made in the form of a deer, ἐλαφος, and offered to the goddess. It owed its institution to the following circumstance. When the Phocians had been severely beaten by the Thessalians, they resolved, by the persuasion of a certain Deiphantus, to raise a pile of combustible materials, and burn their wives, children, and effects, rather than submit to the enemy. This resolution was unanimously approved by the women, who decreed Deiphantus a crown for his magnanimity. When everything was prepared, before they fired the pile, they engaged their enemies, and fought with such desperate fury, that they totally routed them, and obtained a complete victory. In commemoration of this unexpected success, this festival was instituted to Diana, and observed with the greatest solemnity, so that even one of the months of the year, March, was called Elaphebolion from this circumstance.
Elaptonius, a youth who conspired against Alexander. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 6.