Salai, or Salaino, Akdhea, an Italian painter, was born about 1500, but the time of his deatli is not known. From an humble position in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci, he finally became the favorite pupil of his master, and his pictures show the same softness which characterizes those of the great artist. In Milan may be seen his HoU/ Famili/ and St. John in the Desert, and at Paris an Adoration of the Magi, besides many others scattered through Europe. — Iloefer, Nouv. Biog. Generule, s. v.
Salamander, a kind of imaginary beings belong- ing rather to the physico-philosophical systems of the Cabalists than to the mythology of any particular peo- ple. They were supposed to inhabit fire as their proper element, as the Undines made their home in water ; and this idea probabh^ gave rise to the notion that the am- phibious, lizard-like reptiles of the species which are dotted with black, yellow, or red spots are likewise able to resist the destructive power of fire.
Salaminius, in (Sreek mythology, is a surname of Jupiter, derived from Salamis, in Cyprus, where a temple was erected to him by Teucer.
Salamis, in Greek mythology, was a daughter of the river-god Asopus, whose name was transferred to the island of Salamis, and who became by Neptune the mother of Cychreus.
Sal'amis (^dXafiic, perhaps from u\q, salt, as be- ing on the sea), a city at the east end of the island of Cyprus, and the first place visited by Paul and Barna- bas on the first missionary journey after leaving the mainland at Seleucia. See Paul. Two reasons why they took this course obviously suggest themselves, viz. the fact that Cyprus (and probably Salamis) was the native place of Barnabas, and the geographical proxim- it}"^ of this end of the island to Antioch. But a further reason is indicated by a circumstance in the narrative (Acts xiii, 5). Here alone, among all the Greek cities visited by Paul, we read expressly of " synagogues" in the plural. Hence we conclude that there were many Jews in Cyprus. This is in harmony with what we read elsewhere. To say nothing of possiljle mercantile relations in very early times (see Cihttim), Jewish residents in the island arc mentioned during the period
when the Seleucidaj reigned at Antioch (1 Mace, xv, 23). In the reign of Augustus, the Cyprian copper- mines were farmed to Herod the Great (Joscphus, Ant. xvi, 4, 5), and this would probably attract many He- brew families: to which we may add evidence to the same effect from Philo (J^egat. ad Caiam) at the very time of Paul's journey. Again, at a later period, in the reign of Trajan, we are informed of dreadful tu- mults here, caused by a vast multitude of Jews, in the course of which "the whole populous city of Salamis became a desert" (Jlilman, Ilist. of the Jews, iii. 111, 112). Hadrian, afterwards emperor, came to the aid of the Cypriots. He overcame the Jews, and expelled them from the island, forbidding any of that nation to approach its coasts; and so strictly was this carried out that if a Jew were ever cast by shipwreck on the island, he was put to death. We may well believe that from the Jews of Salamis came some of those early Cypriot Christians who are so prominently mentioned in the account of the first spreading of the Gospel be- yond Palestine (Acts xi, 19, 20) even before the first missionary expedition. Mnason (xxi, 16) might be one of them. Nor ought Mark to be forgotten here. He was at Salamis with Paul and his own kinsman Barnabas; and again he was there with the same kins- man after the misunderstanding with Paul and the sep- aration (xv, 39). See BIakk.
Coin of Salamis with the head of Ptolemy V.
Salamis was not far from the modern Famagosta. Legend ascribed its origin to the /Eacid Teucer. Af- ter various fortunes in the connections of the Greek states, it finally fell under the power of the Ptolemies. It was situated on a bight of the coast, a little to the north o^ a river called the Pedianis, on low ground, which is, in fact, a continuation of the plain (anciently called Salaminia) running up into the interior towards the place where Nicosia, the present capital of Cyprus, stands. We must notice in regard to Salamis that its harbor is spoken of bj^ Greek writers as very good ; and that one of the ancient tables lays down a road between this city and Paphos (q. v.), the next place which Paul and Barnabas visited on their journey. Salamis again has rather an eminent position in subsequent Christian history. Constantine or his successor rebuilt it and called it Constantia, and, while it had this name, Epi- phanius was one of its bishops. In the reign of llera- clius the new town was destroyed by the Saracens. See Cyprus.
Very little of the ancient city is now standing; but on the outside of the city recent travellers have seen the remains of a building two hundred feet in length, and six or eight feet high ; also a stone church and portions of an aqueduct by which water was brought to the city from a distance of thirty miles. Of the travellers who have visited and described Salamis^ we must particularly mention Pococke {Descr.of the East, ii, 214) and liass {Riisen narh Kos, Ilalikarnassos, Rho- dos, und Ct/pern, p. 118-125). Tiiesc travellers notice, in the neighborhood of Salamis, a village named *S7. Ser(jius, wliich is doubtless a reminiscence of Sorgius Paiihis, and a large Byzantine church bearing the name of St. Barnabas, and associated with a legend concern- ing the discovery of his relics. The legend will be found in Cedrenus (i, G18, cd. Bonn). See Baunabas; Sergius Paui.i-s. See Smith, Diet, of Class. Geog. ii, 876 sq ; Conybearc and llowson, Life and Epistles of