right|thumb|250px|Approximate locations of the Elymians and their neighbors, the [[Sicani and the Sicels, in Sicily around 11th century BC (before the arrival of the Phoenicians and the Greeks).]]
The Elymians () were an ancient tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity.
Origins
According to Thucydides, the Elymians were refugees coming from the destroyed Troy. Instead, for Hellanicus of Lesbos, they arrived in Sicily coming from Italy, driven out by the Oenotrians. Furthermore, for the Greek historian, the Elymians would also have contributed to the formation of the Sicels.
The Elymian language is considered to have been a part of the Indo-European language family. While an ancient tradition that the Elymians came from Troy – and were originally an Anatolian people – is corroborated by archeological data, the more generally supported opinion is that Elymian was an Italic language, with similarities to Latin. Hence an Italic origin for the Elymians is considered to be more likely.
The Greek historian Philistus refers to the presence of a people of Ligurian origin, although he does not identify it with the Elymians. In modern times, historians such as Heinrich Nissen and Karl Julius Beloch investigated the possibilities of a Ligurian origin following the numerous common epigraphic and toponymic references, still found in the cities of Lerici, Segesta and Entella.
Apart from mythological tales, there is little known about the identity and culture of the Elymians. They are indistinguishable from their Sicani neighbours in the archaeological record of the early Iron Age (c. 1100–c. 700 BC). Thereafter, they appear to have adopted many aspects of the culture of the Greek colonists of Sicily, erecting the temple at Segesta and using the Greek alphabet to write their own language. As yet, no one has succeeded in deciphering the Elymian language.