The Elymian people seems to be descendant of Elimo, the Troian friend of Egesto. Egesto was son of Crimiso river and Egesta, and he founded Segesta in honour of his mother, doing this he create a place for all the Elymian peoples. Thucydides wrote about the Elymian as refuges from Troy when the city was destroyed.

The more important cities of the Elymian people was Segesta, the city that host the religion most diffused in the Elymian region was Erice or Eryx as referenced by the Greek. Other cities were: Entella, Elima, Aliciae, Iatae, Hypana.

The Elymi people was strong enough to resist to the Greek colony like Selinunte.

Segesta and Selinunte had several dispute about the territories. In the 580 b.c they dispute a war, but the Selinunte army lost the war.

Some tablets were found near Contessa Entellina, they were the "Nakone's Decrets". The characters used were greek but the language was completely different.

The Elymian did not knew the writing, so they used the greek characters to write their language.