This article is about an ancient Roman priestly order. For the Frankish tribe of the fourth century AD, see Salian Franks.
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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 Ovid, who relates the story of Numa and the heavenly ancilia in his Fasti,[1] found the hymn and the Salian rituals outdated and hard to understand.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]
^Ovid, Fasti, 3, ll. 259–392.
^Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 10.
^Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:27
^Le Glay, Marcel. (2009). A history of Rome. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8327-7. OCLC 760889060.
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...
The Salian Franks, also called the Salians (Latin: Salii; Greek: Σάλιοι, Salioi), were a northwestern subgroup of the early Franks who appear in the historical...
Hiroshi Salii (died 2014) was a Palauan lawyer, politician and a former Speaker of the House of Delegates of Palau from 1981 to 1985. Salii worked as...
Lazarus Eitaro Salii (17 November 1936 – 20 August 1988) was a politician from Palau. He served as the second elected President of Palau from 25 October...
Gloria Salii (born 1950 or 1951) is the bilung of Koror which is the female counterpart of ibedul and highest ranking female chief title in Palau. She...
any particular link between the Salii and Janus, contrary to what Lydus states in De Mensibus IV 2, i. e. that the Salii were consecrated to the cult of...
same hill lived the members of the older of two schools of the ancient Salii brotherhood of God of War Mars, which had some symbolism in common with...
rechucher-ra-techekii Alexander Merep and bilung Gloria Salii, both initially claimed the title, but Salii would later relent her claim in favour of her son...
priesthoods he had established or developed, including the flamines, pontifices, Salii, and fetiales and their rituals. The other books dealt with philosophy (disciplina...
early as 289, the Bructeri from 307, the Chattuarri from 306 to 315, the Salii or Salians from 357, and the Amsivarii and Tubantes from c. 364 to 375....
priesthoods: the Dialis, Martialis and Quirinalis flamines, and the college of the Salii were never opened to the plebeians. The number of members in the College...
sides. The ancilia were kept by the Salii, a body of twelve priests instituted for that purpose by Numa. The Salii wielded them ritually in a procession...
sacris faciundis Other colleges or sodalities Fetiales Fratres Arvales Salii Titii Luperci Sodales Augustales Priests Pontifex Maximus Rex Sacrorum Flamen...
foundations, including the first Roman calendar; the priesthoods of the Salii, flamines, and Vestals; the cults of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus; and the...
sacris faciundis Other colleges or sodalities Fetiales Fratres Arvales Salii Titii Luperci Sodales Augustales Priests Pontifex Maximus Rex Sacrorum Flamen...
The Palauans had voted for a constitution that banned nuclear devices. Salii then initial a compact agreement with the US allowing American ships and...
on the Rhine river in modern Germany. Their western neighbours were the Salii, or "Salian Franks", who were named already in late Roman records, and settled...
the Salii, they themselves divided into two groups, one devoted to the cult of Mars (Salii Palatini, created by Numa) and the other of Quirinus (Salii Collini...
1965 as an extension of the classical notion of set. At the same time, Salii (1965) defined a more general kind of structure called an "L-relation",...
time, beginning with Conrad II. The different Frankish tribes, such as the Salii, Ripuarii, and Chamavi, had different legal traditions, which were only...
youth and into his teenage years, learned to fight in armour and joined the Salii, an order of priests dedicated to the god Mars that were responsible for...
the Salii, who used them in their rituals. As payment, Mamurius requested that his name be preserved and remembered in the song sung by the Salii, the...
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