SĂLĪNAE (ἁλαὶ, ἁλοπήγιον), a salt-work. Throughout the Roman empire the salt-works were commonly public property, and were let by the government to the highest bidder. The first salt-works are said to have been established by Ancus Marcius at Ostia. The publicani who farmed these works appear to have sold this most necessary of all commodities at a very high price, whence the censors M. Livius and C. Claudius (B.C. 204) fixed the price at which those who took the lease of them were obliged to sell the salt to the people. At Rome the medius was, according to this regulation, sold for a sextans, while in other parts of Italy the price was higher and varied. The salt-works in Italy and in the provinces were very numerous.
SĂLĪNUM, a salt-cellar. All Romans who were raised above poverty had one of silver, which descended from father to son, and was accompanied by a silver plate, which was used together with the salt-cellar in the domestic sacrifices. [[Patera].] These two articles of silver were alone compatible with the simplicity of Roman manners in the early times of the republic.
A Dance. (Lamberti, Villa Borghese.)
SALTĀTĬO (ὄρχησις, ὀρχηστύς), dancing. The dancing of the Greeks as well as of the Romans had very little in common with the exercise which goes by that name in modern times. It may be divided into two kinds, gymnastic and mimetic; that is, it was intended either to represent bodily activity, or to express by gestures, movements, and attitudes certain ideas or feelings, and also single events, or a series of events, as in the modern ballet. All these movements, however, were accompanied by music; but the terms ὄρχησις and saltatio were used in so much wider a sense than our word dancing, that they were applied to designate gestures, even when the body did not move at all. We find dancing prevalent among the Greeks from the earliest times. It was originally closely connected with religion. In all the public festivals, which were so numerous among the Greeks, dancing formed a very prominent part. We find from the earliest times that the worship of Apollo was connected with a religious dance, called Hyporchema (ὑπόρχημα). All the religious dances, with the exception of the Bacchic and the Corybantian, were very simple, and consisted of gentle movements of the body, with various turnings and windings around the altar: such a dance was the Geranus (γέρανος), which Theseus is said to have performed at Delos on his return from Crete. The Dionysiac or Bacchic, and the Corybantian, were of a very different nature.
Corybantian Dance. (Visconti, Mus. Pio Clem., vol. iv. tav. 9.)
In the former the life and adventures of the god were represented by mimetic dancing. [[Dionysia].] The Corybantian was of a very wild character: it was chiefly danced in Phrygia and in Crete; the dancers were armed, struck their swords against their shields, and displayed the most extravagant fury; it was accompanied chiefly by the flute. Respecting the dances in the theatre, see [Chorus]. Dancing was applied to gymnastic purposes and to training for war, especially in the Doric states, and was believed to have contributed very much to the success of the Dorians in war, as it enabled them to perform their evolutions simultaneously and in order. There were various dances in early times, which served as a preparation for war: hence Homer calls the Hoplites πρυλέες, a war-dance having been called πρύλις by the Cretans. Of such dances the most celebrated was the Pyrrhic (ἡ πυῤῥίχη), of which the πρύλις was probably only another name. It was danced to the sound of the flute, and its time was very quick and light, as is shown by the name of the Pyrrhic foot (˘˘), which must be connected with this dance. In the non-Doric states it was probably not practised as a training for war, but only as a mimetic dance: thus we read of its being danced by women to entertain a company. It was also performed at Athens at the greater and lesser Panathenaea by ephebi, who were called Pyrrhichists (πυῤῥιχισταί), and were trained at the expense of the choragus. In the mountainous parts of Thessaly and Macedon dances are performed at the present day by men armed with muskets and swords. The Pyrrhic dance was introduced in the public games at Rome by Julius Caesar, when it was danced by the children of the leading men in Asia and Bithynia. There were other dances, besides the [Pyrrhic], in which the performers had arms; but these seem to have been entirely mimetic, and not practised with any view to training for war. Such was the Carpaea (καρπαία), peculiar to the Aenianians and Magnetes, and described by Xenophon in the Anabasis. Such dances were frequently performed at banquets for the entertainment of the guests, where also the tumblers (κυβιστῆρες) were often introduced, who in the course of their dance flung themselves on their head and alighted again upon their feet. These tumblers were also accustomed to make their somersets over knives and swords, which was called κυβιστάν εἰς μαχαίρας. We learn from Tacitus that the German youths also used to dance among swords and spears pointed at them. Other kinds of dances were frequently performed at entertainments, in Rome as well as in Greece, by courtezans, many of which were of a very indecent and lascivious nature. Among the dances performed without arms one of the most important was the Hormos (ὅρμος), which was danced at Sparta by youths and maidens together: the youth danced first some movements suited to his age, and of a military nature; the maiden followed in measured steps and with feminine gestures. Another common dance at Sparta was the bibasis (βίβασις), in which the dancer sprang rapidly from the ground and struck the feet behind.—Dancing was common among the Romans in ancient times, in connection with religious festivals and rites, because the ancients thought that no part of the body should be free from the influence of religion. The dances of the Salii, which were performed by men of patrician families, are described elsewhere. [[Ancile].] Dancing, however, was not performed by any Roman citizens except in connection with religion, and it was considered disgraceful for any freeman to dance. The mimetic dances of the Romans, which were carried to such perfection under the empire, are described under [Pantomimus]. The dancers on the tight-rope (funambuli) under the empire were as skilful as they are in the present day.
Tumbler. (Museo Borbonico, vol. VII. tav. 58.)