View source for Salius

{{short description|Mythical character}}
In [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], '''Salius''' is an [[Acarnania]]n who in one alternative tradition was the legendary founder of the ancient Roman priesthood of the [[Salii]].<ref>Joseph Rykwert, ''The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World'' (MIT Press, 1988), p. 96.</ref>
[[Varro]] says that Salius had come to Italy with [[Evander of Pallene|Evander]], the [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]n king to whom several [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religious institutions]] were attributed. In Book 5 of the ''[[Aeneid]]'',<ref>[[Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 5.286ff.; see also [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 273.14.</ref> Salius, who lives in [[Segesta]], competes in the [[funeral games (antiquity)|funeral games]] held for [[Anchises]]. Salius is among the runners in the footrace, along with [[Nisus and Euryalus]]. When the frontrunner Nisus falls, Salius finds himself in the lead, but Nisus trips him deliberately to secure the victory for his friend Euryalus. Salius expresses his indignation at the foul, and receives a fine lion skin as a consolation prize.<ref>Lee Fratantuono, ''Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's Aeneid'' (Lexington Books, 2007), p. 141.</ref> The episode is given comic treatment, particularly in [[John Dryden]]'s translation.<ref>Fredric V. Bogel, ''The Difference Satire Makes: Rhetoric and Reading from Jonson to Byron'' (Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 230; W.S. Anderson, ''The Art of the Aeneid'' (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2005, originally published 1969), p. 60.</ref>
Salius remains among the company of Aeneas in Latium. In ''Aeneid'' Book 10, he is killed by Nealces in the war against the local population.<ref>[[Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 10.753.</ref>
The [[Latin]] name ''Salius'' is the equivalent of ''Halios'' (Ἅλιος), the [[Phaeacian]] dancer in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' who loses his athletic competition.<ref>''Odyssey'' 8.119, 370; [[Francis Cairns]], ''Virgil's Augustan Epic'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 230.</ref> [[Plutarch]] says that a Salius from [[Samothrace]] or [[Mantinea]] was reputed to be the legendary founder of the Salian priests, but that the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sodalitas|sodality]] in fact was named from the leaping (Latin ''salire'') of their armed dance.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Numa'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Numa*.html#13.4 13.4.]</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Aeneid}}
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman priests]]
[[Category:Mythological Sicilians]]