Salii

{{lang|la|Saliī}} is the plural form of {{lang|la|Salius}}, a noun and adjective that seem to derive from {{lang|la|salīre}} ("to jump, to leap") and to be cognate with {{lang|la|saltāre}} ("to dance, to jump"). They were sometimes known as the Palatine Salii ({{lang|la|Salii Palatini}}) to distinguish them from the priests of Quirinius. They are also known in English as the Salians or the Salian Priests.{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last= |editor-first= |contribution=Salian, adj.¹ and n.¹ |title=Oxford English Dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2022 |contribution-url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/169981 }}. The Salii Collini were also known as the Agonales or Agonenses.{{citation |editor-first=William |editor-last=Smith |contribution-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Salii.html |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |contribution=Salii |publisher=John Murray |location=London |date=1875 }}.

According to legend, Numa Pompilius established the Salii Palatini, which honored the god Mars,Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1, Sect. 20. while Tullus Hostilius established the Salii Collini which honored the god Quirinus.{{Citation |last=Woodard |first=Roger D. |title=Salii |date=2012-10-26 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17407 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |pages=wbeah17407 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S. |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17407 |isbn=978-1-4051-7935-5 |access-date=2022-11-07 |editor2-last=Brodersen |editor2-first=Kai |editor3-last=Champion |editor3-first=Craige B. |editor4-last=Erskine |editor4-first=Andrew|url-access=subscription }}

An origin among the Etruscans is attributed to a founding by Morrius, king of Veii. The Salii are also given an origin in connection with Dardanus and the Samothracian Di Penates, and the Salius who came to Italy with Evander and in the Aeneid competed in the funeral games of Anchises.Joseph Rykwert, The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World (MIT Press, 1988), p. 96. Indeed in book VIII of The Aeneid, while in the land of King Evander Aeneas is entertained by the Salii during a feast, who are commemorating the fame and feasts of Hercules.{{cite web |title=The Aeneid Book VIII |url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidVIII.php#anchor_Toc3637697 |website=Poetry in Translation}}

Ancient authors quoted by Maurus Servius Honoratus and Macrobius recorded that Salii had existed at Tibur, Tusculum and Veii even before their creation in Rome.{{cite book |author=Servius |title=Aenead |at=VIII 285}}{{cite book |author=Macrobius |title=Saturnalia |at=III 12, 1-9}}

The twelve Salii used song and dance as part of religious ritual. They were state sponsored and considered important for the maintenance of the Roman social order.{{Cite journal |last=Foster |first=Margaret |title=The Double Chorus of Horace "Odes" 4.1: A Paeanic Performance "In Morem Salium" |date=2015 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24560608 |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=136 |issue=4 |pages=607–632 |jstor=24560608 |issn=0002-9475}} Their dances were also used to tell religious or historical stories.{{Citation |last=Fernández |first=Zoa Alonso |title=Incorporating Memory in Roman Song and Dance: The Case of the Arval Cult |date=2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/music-and-memory-in-the-ancient-greek-and-roman-worlds/incorporating-memory-in-roman-song-and-dance/F8B12C6E0528B9FE33C740D363F271CF |work=Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds |pages=101–120 |editor-last=Curtis |editor-first=Lauren |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-83166-6 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Weiss |editor2-first=Naomi}} The Salii honored the gods Jupiter,{{Cite web |last=Holford-Strevens |first=Leofranc |date=2015-12-22 |title=Carmen Saliare |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1379 |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1379|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }} Janus,{{Citation |last=Poma |first=Gabriella |title=Religions: Republic |date=2015-03-04 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1277 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army |pages=806–842 |editor-last=Le Bohec |editor-first=Yann |place=Chichester, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1277 |isbn=978-1-118-31814-0 |access-date=2022-11-06|url-access=subscription }} and Mars.{{Cite book |last=Hardie |first=Philip |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780691233307-004/html |title=Classical Antiquity |chapter=2. Classical Antiquity |date=2022-03-01 |pages=30–105 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-23330-7 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9780691233307-004}}{{Citation |last=Scopacasa |first=Rafael |title=Mars |date=2012-10-26 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17258 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |pages=wbeah17258 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S |place=Hoboken, NJ, USA |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17258 |isbn=978-1-4443-3838-6 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Brodersen |editor2-first=Kai |editor3-last=Champion |editor3-first=Craige B |editor4-last=Erskine |editor4-first=Andrew|url-access=subscription }} This dance was referred to as the tripudium. Horace describes the Salii performing this dance by stamping their feet three times. Their dance was also associated with leaping and jumping.{{Citation |title=dance |date=2014-01-24 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0608 |encyclopedia=The Virgil Encyclopedia |pages=333–334 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Richard F |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0608 |isbn=978-1-118-35135-2 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Ziolkowski |editor2-first=Jan M|url-access=subscription }} Seneca the Younger wrote that it was a popular dance that required professional training to perform. It is possible that the term tripudium referred to a variety of dances. Alongside dancing, the Salii would sing songs known as the {{lang|la|Carmen Saliare}}. Varro claimed that the Salian priests did not understand the meanings of the lyrics they sang. It is possible they contained older spellings and archaic words.{{Citation |last=Hickson Hahn |first=Frances |title=Carmen Saliare |date=2012-10-26 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17082 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |pages=wbeah17082 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S |place=Hoboken, NJ, USA |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17082 |isbn=978-1-4443-3838-6 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Brodersen |editor2-first=Kai |editor3-last=Champion |editor3-first=Craige B |editor4-last=Erskine |editor4-first=Andrew|url-access=subscription }} Plutarch describes them chanting and dancing with a quick rhythm. He also wrote that they would beat daggers on shields to create music.{{Citation |last1=Fless |first1=Friederike |title=Music and Dance: Forms of Representation in Pictorial and Written Sources |date=2007-08-24 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470690970.ch18 |work=A Companion to Roman Religion |pages=249–262 |editor-last=Rüpke |editor-first=Jörg |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470690970.ch18 |isbn=978-1-4051-2943-5 |access-date=2022-11-06 |last2=Moede |first2=Katja|url-access=subscription }} These shields were known as ancile.{{Citation |title=ancile |date=2013-12-31 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0153 |encyclopedia=The Virgil Encyclopedia |pages=76–77 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Richard F |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0153 |isbn=978-1-118-35135-2 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Ziolkowski |editor2-first=Jan M|url-access=subscription }} Other descriptions stated that used flutes to sing the songs.{{Citation |last=Patzelt |first=Maik |title=Chanting and Dancing into Dissociation: The Case of the Salian Priests at Rome |date=2022 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cognitive-approaches-to-ancient-religious-experience/chanting-and-dancing-into-dissociation/5E46A4821DD5EC50BDBA14BAF47B68C5 |work=Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience |pages=118–142 |editor-last=Geertz |editor-first=Armin W. |series=Ancient Religion and Cognition |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51533-4 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Eidinow |editor2-first=Esther |editor3-last=North |editor3-first=John}} The Salii wore embroidered tunics under purple trabeae with bronze helmets and belts during their festivals. They also wore garlands of white ribbons, a conical cap known as an apex,{{Cite web |last1=Bailey |first1=Cyril |last2=North |first2=John |date=2016-03-07 |title=Salii, 'to dance' |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5673 |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5673|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }} and wheat sheaves. Some wore togae praetextae around their waists.{{Citation |last=Stone |first=Shelley C. |title=Cult clothing, Roman |date=2012-10-26 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17103 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |pages=wbeah17103 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S |place=Hoboken, NJ, USA |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17103 |isbn=978-1-4443-3838-6 |access-date=2022-11-06 |editor2-last=Brodersen |editor2-first=Kai |editor3-last=Champion |editor3-first=Craige B |editor4-last=Erskine |editor4-first=Andrew|url-access=subscription }} Their rituals took place in March, during the Spring equinox.{{Citation |last=Gianni |first=Giovanna Bagnasco |title=Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas: Tarquinia in Its Mediterranean Setting |date=2022 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/architecture-in-ancient-central-italy/architectural-choices-in-etruscan-sacred-areas/473481FE65317525F0EF0A1CF25C819E |work=Architecture in Ancient Central Italy: Connections in Etruscan and Early Roman Building |pages=148–173 |editor-last=Potts |editor-first=Charlotte R. |series=British School at Rome Studies |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-84528-1 |access-date=2022-11-06}} If a Salius was elected consul, flamen, pontifex, or augur, they would resign from their position in the Salii.{{Cite journal |last=Balsdon |first=J. P. V. D. |date=1966 |title=The Salii and Campaigning in March and October |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-review/article/abs/salii-and-campaigning-in-march-and-october/CA091FF6FCECDC5A1A4F1B9ABC5C66FB |journal=The Classical Review |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=146–147 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X00320984 |s2cid=162880749 |issn=1464-3561 |via=Cambridge Core|url-access=subscription }}

Sextus Pompeius Festus makes a perplexing reference to "Salian virgins" ({{lang|la|Saliae virgines}}).Festus (439 L) cites Aelius Stilo and Cincius as his sources. Wearing the paludamentum and pointed apex of the Salii, these women were employed to assist the College of Pontiffs in carrying out sacrifices in the Regia. It has been suggested{{cite book |last=Versnel |first=H.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWU33X4gPmUC&pg=PA158 |title=Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and reversal in myth and ritual |publisher=Brill |year=1994 |isbn=9004092676 |edition=2nd |volume=2 |pages=158, especially note 104}} citing the prior but independent conclusions of {{cite book |last=Torelli |first=M. |title=Lavinio e Roma. Riti iniziatici e matrimonio tra acheologia e storia |year=1984 |location=Rome |pages=76 ff and 106 ff}} that the passage in Festus describes a transvestite initiation.On the aspect of initiation, see also {{cite book |last=Habinek |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Em_XpAvaT9oC&pg=PA17 |title=The World of Roman Song: From ritualized speech to social order |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8018-8105-3 |page=17}} An earlier explanation held that the maidens played the role of absent warriors in some form of propitiation.L. Deubner, "Zur römischen Religionsgeschichte," Rheinisches Museum 36–37 (1921–22) 14 ff., as cited by Versnel. The possibility of their being "hired" is disputed, as is their status, but the use of virgines implies that they were freeborn citizens.{{cite book |last=Beard |first=Mary |title=Pagan Priests: Religion and power in the ancient world |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1990 |pages=19 and 22 |contribution=Priesthood in the Roman Republic |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist)}}

There is no single overreaching description of the Salii's rituals throughout the month of March from any of the ancient authors, and facts have to be reconstructed from multiple mentions in diverse works; however, there are strong indications that the procession may actually have lasted a full 24 days, from March 1st which opened the festival until March 24th, which closed it, with the procession moving from one station to another each day, and with revels being held each evening; a complete assessment can be found in Smith, Wayte, & Marindin (1890).{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William, LLD |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dsalii-cn |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |last2=Wayte |first2=William |last3=Marindin |first3=G. E. |publisher=John Murray |year=1890 |location=Albemarle Street, London, UK |via=Tufts U. / Perseus}}

Classical philologist Georg Wissowa maintained that the ritual of the Salii is a war dance or a sword dance, with their costumes clearly indicating their military origin.{{cite book |last=Wissowa |first=Georg |date=1912 |title=Religion und Kultus der Römer |location=Munich |publisher=C. H. Beck'sche |pages=480ff}} Georges Dumézil interpreted the rituals of the Salii as marking the opening and the closing of the yearly war season. The opening would coincide with the day of the Agonium Martiale on March 17,{{cite book |author=Varro |title=Lingua Latina |at=VI 14 |quote=Liberalia ... In libris Saliorum quorum cognomen Agonensium, forsitan hic dies ideo appellatur Agonia
[Liberalia ... In the books of the Salii they are named of the Agonenses, perhaps this day is thence rather named Agonia.]}} and the closing with the day of the Armilustrium on October 19. The first date was also referred to as ancilia movere, "to move the ancilia," and the second as ancilia condere, "to store (or hide) the ancilia." Dumezil views the two groups of Salii — one representing Mars and the other Quirinus — as a dialectic relationship, showing the interdependency of the military and economic functions in Roman society.{{cite book |author=Servius |title=Aenead |at=VIII 663}}{{cite book |author=Statius |title=Silvae |at=V 128 ff}}{{cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |title=Roman Antiquities |at=II 70, 2 |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus}}{{cite book |author=Dumezil, G. |title=La religion romaine archaique |others=It. tr. Milano 1974 p. 248-249 |year=1974 |location=Paris, FR |at=2nd part 1 chapt. 6}} Wissowa compares the Salii with the noble youth who dance the Lusus Troiae: {{sfn|Wissowa|1912|p=382}} thus, the ritual dance of the Salii would be a coalescence of an initiation into adulthood and war, with a scapegoat ritual (see also pharmakos). Other 19th-century scholars have compared the rituals of the Salii with the Vedic myths of Indra and the Maruts.L. von Schoeder Mysterium und Mimus im RigVeda 1908, pp. 126 and 329-330A. Hillebrandt Vedische Mythologie 1902 III p. 323; killer of his own father at the same time of his birth II p. 517, III p. 162; father of Indra is Tvastar the divine blacksmith (cf. Mamurius Veturius)Oldenburg Die Religion d. Veda 1894 p. 233

Because the earliest Roman calendar had begun with the month of March, Hermann Usener thought the ceremonies of the ancilia movere were a ritual expulsion of the old year, represented by the mysterious figure of Mamurius Veturius, to make way for the new god Mars, born on March 1.Old calendars name the day Caesus Ancili or Natalis Martis: Calend. Philocali et Constantini Feriae Martis, Calend. Praen. CIL I p. 387; Ovid Fasti III 1 ff.; L. Preller Roemische Mythologie 1858 p.319 n. 5 On the Ides of March, a man ritually named as Mamurius Veturius was beaten with long white sticks in the sacrum Mamurii; in Usener's view, this was a form of scapegoating. Mamurius was the mythic blacksmith who forged eleven replicas of the original divine shield that had dropped from the sky.H. Usener Kleine Schriften IV Bonn, 1913 p. 122 and 135 citing Iohannes Lydus de Mensibus IV 36, 71; Properce V 2, 61; Minucius Felix Octav. 243; Varro Lingua Latina VI 45: "Itaque Salii quod cantant: "Mamuri Veturi" significant memoriam veterem". "Thus the Salii when they sing "Mamuri Veturi" mean memories of the past" According to Usener and Ludwig Preller,H. Usener Kleine Schriften IV Bonn, 1913, p. 193; L. Preller Roemische Mythologie 1858 p. 297 Mars would be a god of war and fertility while Mamurius Veturius would mean "Old Mars". Mars is himself a dancer,Catullus 17, 6 Salisubsulus and the head of the Salian dancers, patrician young men whose parents were both living (patrimi and matrimi).

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• Numa's Salii Palatini were dedicated to Mars surnamed Gradivus (meaning "he who walks into battle"), and were quartered on the Palatine Hill.
• Tullus' Salii Collini were dedicated to Quirinus, and were quartered on the Quirinal Hill.{{cite web |author=Antonia Traiana Severa |title=God Mars |url=http://www.religioromana.net/dii_consentes/mars.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20050423215828/http://www.religioromana.net/dii_consentes/mars.htm |archive-date=2005-04-23 |website=religiioromana.net}} Rosinus called them{{citation needed|date=February 2008}} Agonenses Salii. The second group of Salii may in fact have been created during an Augustan reorganization of the priesthood. Paulus ex Festo p. 10 M reads: ... Agones dicebant montes, Agonia sacrificia quae fiebant in monte; hinc Romae mons Quirinalis Agonus et Collina Porta Agonensis: "Agones were called the mounts, Agonia the sacrifices that took place on the mounts; hence in Rome the Quirinal mount (is named) Agonus and the Porta Collina Agonensis".

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