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In ancient Roman mythology, Salacia ( , ) was the female divinity of the sea, worshipped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean. Neptune was her consort.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 That Salacia was the consort of Neptune is implied by Varro,Varro, De lingua Latina, v. 72, “Salacia Neptuni a salo.” and is positively affirmed by Seneca, Augustine and Servius. She is identified with the Greek goddess Amphitrite, consort of Poseidon,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.”Adonis Attis Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion, Frazer, J. G., Edition: 3, Kessinger Publishing: 2003 or Tethys who was also a marine deity. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Salacia
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 sent a dolphin to look for her and persuade the fair nymph to return and share his throne. Salacia agreed to marry 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.
Salacia is represented as a beautiful nymph, crowned with seaweed, either enthroned beside Neptune or driving with him in a pearl shell chariot drawn by dolphins, sea-horses ( ) or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by Tritons and Nereids."…Salacia, weighed down with her lapful of fish, with little Palaemon, their charioteer, upon a dolphin." She is dressed in queenly robes and has nets in her hair."…Salacia, the folds of her garment sagging with fish" (Apuleius, The Golden Ass 4.31).
Salacia was the personification of the calm and sunlit aspect of the sea. Derived from Latin sāl, meaning "salt", the name Salācia denotes the wide, open sea, 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 and is sometimes literally translated as "the salty one".
As his wife, Salacia bore Neptune three children, the most celebrated being Triton,Gods of Olympos Or Mythology of the Greeks and Romans, Petiscus, A.H., Translated by Katherine A. Raleigh, Published by Kessinger Publishing: 2003.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 whose body was half man and half fish.
Aulus Gellius, in 13.23 of his Attic Nights, 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”.A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War, Forsythe, G, Published by University of California Press: 2006
Sometimes, as Salachia, she is also known as the goddess of springs, ruling over the springs of highly mineralized waters.
She and Venilia are also called the paredrae of Neptune.
Planetoid 120347 Salacia is named after the goddess.
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