View source for Salacia

{{short description|Roman goddess of salt water}}
{{about|a Roman divinity|the trans-Neptunian object|120347 Salacia|other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Salacia
| image = Affreschi romani - nettuno anfitrine - pompei.JPG
| caption = [[Centaur]], Salacia and [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], [[fresco]] from [[Pompeii]], AD 50–79
| god_of = Goddess of salt water
| abode = [[Sea|The Sea]]
| symbol = [[dolphin]], [[seaweed]]
| consort = [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]
| parents =
| siblings =
|offspring=[[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]
| mount = [[dolphin]]
| Greek_equivalent = [[Amphitrite]]
}}
[[File:Herculaneum Neptune And Amphitrite.jpg|thumb|[[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] and Salacia in a mosaic, [[Herculaneum]], 1st c. AD]]
[[File:Sebastiano Ricci - Neptune and Amphitrite - WGA19413.jpg|thumb|''Neptune and Amphitrite'' by [[Sebastiano Ricci]], {{circa|1690}}]]
In ancient [[Roman mythology]], '''Salacia''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|l|eɪ|ʃ|ə}} {{respell|sə|LAY|shə}}, {{IPA|la|saˈɫaːkia|lang}}) was the female divinity of the sea, worshipped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gurney|first=Hudson|author-link=|date=2008|title=The Works of Apuleius, Comprising the Metamorphoses, Or Golden Ass, the God of Socrates, the Florida, and His Defence, Or a Discourse on Magic|url=|location=|publisher=READ BOOKS|page=|isbn=}}</ref> [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] was her consort.<ref>Manual of Mythology: for the use of schools, art students, and general readers founded on the works of Petiscus, Preller, and Welcker, Murray, A. S., Asher: 1873,  Original from Oxford University, Digitized 19 Jan 2007</ref> That Salacia was the consort of [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] is implied by [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]],<ref>Varro, De lingua Latina, v. 72, “Salacia Neptuni a salo.”</ref> and is positively affirmed by [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] and [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]. She is identified with the Greek goddess [[Amphitrite]], consort of [[Poseidon]],<ref>Augustine, De civitate Dei, vii. 22, “Jam utique habebat Salaciam Neptunus uxoreum”; Servicius, on Virgil, Aen, x. 76, “Sane hane Veniliam quidam Salaciam accipiunt, Neptuni uxorem.”</ref><ref>Adonis Attis Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion, Frazer, J. G., Edition: 3, Kessinger Publishing: 2003</ref> or [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] who was also a marine deity.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dsalacia-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Salacia]</ref>
The god Neptune wanted to marry Salacia, but she was in great awe of her distinguished suitor, and to preserve her virginity, with grace and celerity she managed to glide out of his sight, and hid from him in the Atlantic Ocean. The grieving [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] sent a dolphin to look for her and persuade the fair nymph to return and share his throne. Salacia agreed to marry [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] and the King of the Deep was so overjoyed at these good tidings that the dolphin was awarded a place in the heavens, where he now forms a well known constellation [[Delphinus]].{{Citation needed|reason=A source is clearly called for, this is not common knowledge by any means. Besides, e.g. Lempriere's Classical Dictionary of Proper Names -- vol. 3, p. 462 -- mentions a hesitant bride of Neptune being Amphitrite, not Salacia.|date=October 2024}}
Salacia is represented as a beautiful nymph, crowned with seaweed, either enthroned beside [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] or driving with him in a pearl shell chariot drawn by dolphins, sea-horses (''[[hippocamp]]s'') or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by [[Triton (god)|Tritons]] and [[Nereids]].<ref>"…Salacia, weighed down with her lapful of fish, with little Palaemon, their charioteer, upon a dolphin." {{cite book|last=Gurney|first=Hudson|author-link=|date=2008|title=The Works of Apuleius, Comprising the Metamorphoses, Or Golden Ass, the God of Socrates, the Florida, and His Defence, Or a Discourse on Magic|url=|location=|publisher=READ BOOKS|page=|isbn=}}</ref>  She is dressed in queenly robes and has nets in her hair.<ref>"…Salacia, the folds of her garment sagging with fish" ([[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' 4.31).</ref>
Salacia was the personification of the calm and sunlit aspect of the sea.<ref>{{cite book|last=Guerber|first=H. A.|author-link=|date=1993|title=The Myths of Greece & Rome|url=|location=|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|page=|isbn=}}</ref> Derived from Latin ''sāl'', meaning "salt",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sal#Latin|title=Sal - Wiktionary}}</ref> the name ''Salācia'' denotes the wide, open sea,<ref>''A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology and geography, partly based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology'', Smith, W, Anthon, C, Published by Harper and brothers: 1862, Original from Harvard University, Digitized 6 May 2008</ref> and is sometimes literally translated as "the salty one".
As his wife, Salacia bore [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]] three children, the most celebrated being [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]],<ref>Gods of Olympos Or Mythology of the Greeks and Romans, Petiscus, A.H., Translated by Katherine A. Raleigh, Published by Kessinger Publishing: 2003.</ref><ref>Manual of Mythology: for the use of schools, art students, and general readers founded on the works of Petiscus, Preller, and Welcker, Murray, A. S., Asher: 1873, Original from Oxford University, Digitized 19 Jan 2007</ref> whose body was half man and half fish.
[[Aulus Gellius]], in 13.23 of his Attic Nights,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Gellius/home.html|title = LacusCurtius • Gellius — Noctes Atticae}}</ref> notes that Roman priests would invoke specific attributes of various gods, “maia Volcani, Salacia Neptuni, hora Quirini, nerio Martis.” Forsythe notes that Salacia Neptuni means “effervescence of [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]]”.<ref>A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War, Forsythe, G, Published by University of California Press: 2006</ref>
Sometimes, as Salachia, she is also known as the goddess of springs,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=P|author-link=|last2=Coulter|first2=C. R.|author-link2=|date=2001|title=Dictionary of Ancient Deities|url=|location=|publisher=Oxford University Press US|page=|isbn=}}</ref> ruling over the springs of highly mineralized waters.
She and [[Venilia]] are also called the [[Neptune (mythology)#Paredrae|''paredrae'' of Neptune]].
Planetoid [[120347 Salacia]] is named after the goddess.
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
*Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie, van Aken, Dr. A.R.A., Elsevier, Amsterdam: 1961
*Vestal Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons: Women in Roman Religion, Takács, S. A., University of Texas Press: 2007
*Bell's New Pantheon Or Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi Gods, Heroes and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity, Bell, J, Kessinger Publishing: 2003
*St. Augustin's City of God and Christian Doctrine: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church Part 2, Augusti St Augustin, Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Published by Kessinger Publishing: 2004.
==External links==
*{{Commonsinline|Salacia (mythology)}}
{{Roman religion}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salacia (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:120347 Salacia]]
[[Category:Neptune (mythology)]]