Salii

This article is about an ancient Roman priestly order. For the Frankish tribe of the fourth century AD, see Salian Franks.

The Salii, Salians, or Salian priests were the "leaping priests" of Mars in ancient Roman religion, supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths dressed as archaic warriors with an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak (paludamentum), a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex. They were charged with the twelve bronze shields called ancilia, which—like those of the Mycenaeans—resembled a figure eight. One of the shields was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of King Numa and eleven copies were made to protect the identity of the sacred shield on the advice of the nymph Egeria, consort of Numa, who prophesied that wherever that shield was preserved, the people would be the dominant people of the earth.

Each year in March, the Salii made a procession round the city, dancing and singing the Carmen Saliare. Ovid, who relates the story of Numa and the heavenly ancilia in his Fasti,^[1] found the hymn and the Salian rituals outdated and hard to understand. During the Principate, by decree of the Senate, Augustus's name was inserted into the song.^[2] They ended the day by banqueting. "Table of the Salii" (Saliaris cena) became proverbial in Latin for a sumptuous feast. It is unclear whether the primary aim of the ritual was to protect Rome's army, although this is the traditional view.

King Tullus Hostilius is said to have established another collegium of Salii in fulfillment of a vow which he made in the second war with Fidenae and Veii.^[3] These Salii Collini were also twelve in number, chosen from the Patricians, and appeared to have been dedicated to the service of Quirinus.

The Salii are sometimes credited with the opening and closing of the war cycle which would last from March to October.^[4]

Name

Saliī is the plural form of Salius, a noun and adjective that seem to derive from salīre ("to jump, to leap") and to be cognate with saltāre ("to dance, to jump"). They were sometimes known as the Palatine Salii (Salii Palatini) to distinguish them from the priests of Quirinius. They are also known in English as the Salians or the Salian Priests.^[5] The Salii Collini were also known as the Agonales or Agonenses.^[6]

Origin

According to legend, Numa Pompilius established the Salii Palatini, which honored the god Mars,^[7] while Tullus Hostilius established the Salii Collini which honored the god Quirinus.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11][12]

Role

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.^[13] Their dances were also used to tell religious or historical stories.^[14] The Salii honored the gods Jupiter,^[15] Janus,^[16] and Mars.^[17][18] This dance was referred to as the tripudium. Horace describes the Salii performing this dance by stomping their feet three times. Their dance was also associated with leaping and jumping.^[19] 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 also sing songs known as the Carmen Saliare. Varro claimed that the Salian priests did not understand the meanings of the lyrics they sung. It is possible they contained older spellings and archaic words.^[20] Plutarch describes them chanting and dancing with a quick rhythm. He also wrote that they would beat daggers on shields to create music.^[21] These shields were known as ancile.^[22] Other descriptions stated that used flutes to sing the songs.^[23] The Salii wore embroidered tunics under purple trabeae with bronze helmets and belts during their festivals. They also wore a garlands of white ribbons, a conical cap known as an apex,^[24] wheat sheaves. Some wore togae praetextae around their waists.^[25] Their rituals took place in March during the Spring equinox.^[26] If a Salius was elected consul, flamen, pontifex, or augur they would resign from their position in the Salii.^[27]

Salian virgins

Sextus Pompeius Festus makes a perplexing reference to "Salian virgins" (Saliae virgines).^[28] Wearing the paludamentum and pointed apex of the Salii, these maidens were employed to assist the College of Pontiffs in carrying out sacrifices in the Regia. It has been suggested^[29] that the passage in Festus describes a transvestite initiation.^[30] An earlier explanation held that the maidens played the role of absent warriors in some form of propitiation.^[31] The meaning of their being "hired" is unclear.^[32]

Interpretations of the rituals

There is no single standing description of the Salii's rituals throughout the month of March from one 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 till March 24th which closed it, with the procession moving from one station to another each day, and some revelling being held each evening; a complete assessment can be found in Smith, Wayte, & Marindin (1890).^[33]

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.^[34] 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,^[35] 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.^{[36][37][38][39]} Wissowa compares the Salii with the noble youth who dance the Lusus Troiae.^[40] The ritual dance of the Salii would thus 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.^[41][42][43]

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.^[44] 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 as a form of scapegoating. Mamurius was the mythic blacksmith who forged eleven replicas of the original divine shield that had dropped from the sky.^[45] According to Usener and Ludwig Preller,^[46] Mars would be a god of war and fertility while Mamurius Veturius would mean "Old Mars". Mars is himself a dancer,^[47] and the head of the Salian dancers, patrician young men whose parents were both living (patrimi and matrimi).

Nomenclature

 

Ceremonial headgear of the Salii and flamens

• 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.^[48] Rosinus called them^{[citation needed]} 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".

References

1. Ovid, Fasti, 3, ll. 259–392.
2. Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 10.
3. Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:27
4. Le Glay, Marcel. (2009). A history of Rome. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8327-7. OCLC 760889060.
5. "Salian, adj.¹ and n.¹", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
6. Smith, William, ed. (1875), "Salii", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: John Murray.
7. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1, Sect. 20.
8. Woodard, Roger D. (2012-10-26), "Salii", in Bagnall, Roger S.; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B.; Erskine, Andrew (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, pp. wbeah17407, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17407, ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5, retrieved 2022-11-07
9. Joseph Rykwert, The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World (MIT Press, 1988), p. 96.
10. "The Aeneid Book VIII". Poetry in Translation.
11. Servius. Aenead. VIII 285.
12. Macrobius. Saturnalia. III 12, 1-9.
13. Foster, Margaret (2015). "The Double Chorus of Horace "Odes" 4.1: A Paeanic Performance "In Morem Salium"". The American Journal of Philology. 136 (4): 607–632. ISSN 0002-9475. JSTOR 24560608.
14. Fernández, Zoa Alonso (2021), Curtis, Lauren; Weiss, Naomi (eds.), "Incorporating Memory in Roman Song and Dance: The Case of the Arval Cult", Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 101–120, ISBN 978-1-108-83166-6, retrieved 2022-11-06
15. Holford-Strevens, Leofranc (2015-12-22). "Carmen Saliare". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1379. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
16. Poma, Gabriella (2015-03-04), "Religions: Republic", in Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 806–842, doi:10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1277, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0, retrieved 2022-11-06
17. Hardie, Philip (2022-03-01). "2. Classical Antiquity". Classical Antiquity. Princeton University Press. pp. 30–105. doi:10.1515/9780691233307-004. ISBN 978-0-691-23330-7.
18. Scopacasa, Rafael (2012-10-26), "Mars", in Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. wbeah17258, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17258, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6, retrieved 2022-11-06
19. Thomas, Richard F; Ziolkowski, Jan M, eds. (2014-01-24), "dance", The Virgil Encyclopedia, Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 333–334, doi:10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0608, ISBN 978-1-118-35135-2, retrieved 2022-11-06
20. Hickson Hahn, Frances (2012-10-26), "Carmen Saliare", in Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. wbeah17082, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17082, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6, retrieved 2022-11-06
21. Fless, Friederike; Moede, Katja (2007-08-24), Rüpke, Jörg (ed.), "Music and Dance: Forms of Representation in Pictorial and Written Sources", A Companion to Roman Religion (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 249–262, doi:10.1002/9780470690970.ch18, ISBN 978-1-4051-2943-5, retrieved 2022-11-06
22. Thomas, Richard F; Ziolkowski, Jan M, eds. (2013-12-31), "ancile", The Virgil Encyclopedia, Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 76–77, doi:10.1002/9781118351352.wbve0153, ISBN 978-1-118-35135-2, retrieved 2022-11-06
23. Patzelt, Maik (2022), Geertz, Armin W.; Eidinow, Esther; North, John (eds.), "Chanting and Dancing into Dissociation: The Case of the Salian Priests at Rome", Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience, Ancient Religion and Cognition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 118–142, ISBN 978-1-316-51533-4, retrieved 2022-11-06
24. Bailey, Cyril; North, John (2016-03-07). "Salii, 'to dance'". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5673. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
25. Stone, Shelley C. (2012-10-26), "Cult clothing, Roman", in Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. wbeah17103, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17103, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6, retrieved 2022-11-06
26. Gianni, Giovanna Bagnasco (2022), Potts, Charlotte R. (ed.), "Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas: Tarquinia in Its Mediterranean Setting", Architecture in Ancient Central Italy: Connections in Etruscan and Early Roman Building, British School at Rome Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 148–173, ISBN 978-1-108-84528-1, retrieved 2022-11-06
27. Balsdon, J. P. V. D. (1966). "The Salii and Campaigning in March and October". The Classical Review. 16 (2): 146–147. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00320984. ISSN 1464-3561. S2CID 162880749 – via Cambridge Core.
28. Festus (439 L) cites Aelius Stilo and Cincius as his sources.
29. Versnel, H.S. (1994). Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and reversal in myth and ritual. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Brill. pp. 158, especially note 104. ISBN 9004092676. citing the prior but independent conclusions of Torelli, M. (1984). Lavinio e Roma. Riti iniziatici e matrimonio tra acheologia e storia. Rome. pp. 76 ff and 106 ff.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
30. On the aspect of initiation, see also Habinek, Thomas (2005). The World of Roman Song: From ritualized speech to social order. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8018-8105-3.
31. L. Deubner, "Zur römischen Religionsgeschichte," Rheinisches Museum 36–37 (1921–22) 14 ff., as cited by Versnel.
32. Beard, Mary (1990). "Priesthood in the Roman Republic". Pagan Priests: Religion and power in the ancient world. Cornell University Press. pp. 19 and 22.
33. Smith, William, LLD; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E. (1890). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Albemarle Street, London, UK: John Murray – via Tufts U. / Perseus.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
34. Wissowa 1912, pp. 480ff. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWissowa1912 (help)
35. Varro. Lingua Latina. VI 14. 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.]
36. Servius. Aenead. VIII 663.
37. Statius. Silvae. V 128 ff.
38. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. II 70, 2.
39. Dumezil, G. (1974). La religion romaine archaique. It. tr. Milano 1974 p. 248-249. Paris, FR. 2nd part 1 chapt. 6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
40. Wissowa 1912, p. 382. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWissowa1912 (help)
41. L. von Schoeder Mysterium und Mimus im RigVeda 1908, pp. 126 and 329-330
42. A. 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)
43. Oldenburg Die Religion d. Veda 1894 p. 233
44. 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
45. 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"
46. H. Usener Kleine Schriften IV Bonn, 1913, p. 193; L. Preller Roemische Mythologie 1858 p. 297
47. Catullus 17, 6 Salisubsulus
48. Antonia Traiana Severa. "God Mars". religiioromana.net. Archived from the original on 2005-04-23.