Why is a similar imagery absent from depictions of armed dancers in historical
reliefs? The discrepancies between written function and visual representation of the
Salii might represent a way to address this issue.
The prime task of the Salii in the cult is to carry the holy shields and to perform
the sacred dance during a procession. Livy (10.20.4) uses the word tripudiumto
describe this dance in Latin, a term not used by the authors Plutarch and Dionysius
of Halicarnassus (2.70 –1), both writing in Greek. The Latin reader probably readily
understood the meaning of this word and associated the appropriate form of move-
ment with it. Livy (38.17) himself also uses this word in order to describe the war-
like appearance of barbarians, characterized by war chants and tripudium. Roman
authors refer to the Salii if they compare dances that involve stomping, or directly
use the word tripudium.
Plutarch (Numa13.4) writes that the Salii performed a lot of rotations and
turnarounds with great strength and dexterity in a fast, vivacious rhythm. Dionysius
of Halicarnassus (2.70 –1) mentions that their dance is attended by “much leaping
and capering” and compares it with the dance of Greek Curetes, thereby linking the
dance of the Salii to the images and form of the Greek dance. The Latin word does
not evoke the dexterity and vivaciousness of Plutarch’s description, but a different
form of dance. By the different forms of translation of the same dance into written
language, associations with diverging aesthetic dimensions are created.
Independent of these nuances of the translation of this dance into texts, it has to
be mentioned that the few visual representations usually identified as processions of
the Salii generally depict males carrying multiple shields shaped like a figure eight
on a pole (Schäfer 1980: figs. 20 – 4; Shapiro et al. 2004: 339, nos. 355–9, pl. 80).
An actual dance, however, is never shown. There is, in accordance with the written
description of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, an Augustan relief-fragment which dis-
plays the Salii’s servants carrying shields on a pole and accompanied by togati, but
no image of the dancing Salii, who were necessary to perform the ritual (Schäfer
1980: figs. 22–3; 1989: pl. 24, figs. 1–2). Could it be that the depiction of the dance
itself was avoided, because the dance movement would contradict the conventions
of a depiction of a ritual procession and the associated ideals of movement and con-
nected values?
In countless procession images of the early Roman imperial period one can
observe that while the different priests participating in the procession are depicted,
they are not shown performing their characteristic rituals and not in their specific
garb, but in the togaof a Roman citizen or official and walking gracefully (Kleiner
1992: figs. 71– 80; Fless 2004: 52–3, no. 100, pl. 13, fig. 100). The Ara Pacis offers
examples. Here, participants in rituals that require the presence of some or all priest-
hoods are depicted, but not the performance of the ritual of all these priesthoods.
Furthermore, in Roman images priests and their function are usually referred to by
showing the specific sacral instruments (instrumenta sacra). The relief fragment con-
taining the procession of the Salii was part of the decorated official chair (sella curulis)
of a Roman official. Both facets of the official functions of the man for whom the
monument was erected were visualized. The procession points to his function as a
priest, the sellato his function as a magistrate. Both are positive elements, indicat-
ing the social rank of this person.
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