SALII. - Priests of the Roman religion, who are also found in various centers of Latium (Alba, Lavinium, Tusculum, Anagni, Aricia, Tibur), albeit without specific data on their local organization. In Rome, the S. form two priestly sodalities of 12 members each, divided into S. palatini and S. collini or agonenses, with their seat respectively on the Palatine and on the Quirinal.
According to certain indications, the latter would have been priests of the god Quirinus: a possibility not excluded, given that at Tibur S. of Hercules Victor are known, from which one deduces that not all S. are necessarily linked to the cult of Mars. But what is known about the Roman priestly activity of the S. falls exclusively within the sphere of the cult of Mars: in the great festival cycles of this god, in March and October, the S. carry around the sacred arms (spears and the 12 ancilia, sacred shields) of the god and perform their war dances in public (hence the popular etymology: S. a saliendo). Their ritual costume also alludes to war, being identical to the uniform of the Roman hoplite. The S. have a magister at their head. They are elected by co-optation from among men of patrician rank who have both parents living and married with the rite of confarreatio. All this indicates the antiquity of their institution, which tradition attributes to King Numa or traces back even to pre-Roman origins (Arcadian, Samothracian or Etruscan). The archaic language of the carmen Saliare, the ritual song of the S., was an object of study from the very beginnings of Roman literary culture.
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Angelo Belich