Salii were priests of Mars Gradivus, and are said to have been instituted by Numa. They were twelve in number, chosen from the patriarchs, and had charge of the sacred shields (ancilia), whicli were kept i:i the Temple of Mars on the Palatine Ilill. The distinguish- ing dress of the salii was an embroidered tunic bound with a brazen belt, the trabea, and the apex, also worn by the flamines. Each had a sword by his side, and in his right hand a spear or staff. The festival of Mars was celebrated bj' the salii on the 1st of IMarch, and for several successive days, on which occasion they were accustomed to go through the city in their official dress, carrying the ancilia, singing and dancing. The mem- bers of the collegium were elected by co-optation. Tul- lus Hostilius established another collegium of salii. These were twelve in number, were chosen from the patricians, and appear to have been dedicated to the service of Quirinus. They were called the Salii CoUiiii, Arjonules, or Agonenses. See Smith, Did. of Class, A ntiq. s. V.
Sa'lim {laXt!/! v. r. SaWfi/i ; Yulg. Salim), a place named (John iii, 23) to denote the situation of /Enon, the scene of John's last baptisms — Salim being the well- known town or spot, and i'Enon a place of fountains, or other water, near it. Christ was in Judrea (ver. 22), and the whole scope of the passage certainly conveys the impression that John was near him, and consequently Salim was either in Judaja or close to its borders. The only direct testimony we possess is that of Eusebius and Jerome, who both affirm unhesitatingly {Onom. "yEnon") that it existed in their day near the Jordan, eight Koman miles south of Scythopolis. Jerome adds (under " Salem") that its name was then Saliimias, Elsewhere (Ep. ad Evam/elum, § 7, 8) he states that it was identical with the Salem of Melchizedek. A tra- dition is mentioned by Reland {Palwstina, p. 978) that Salim was the native place of Simon Zelotes. This in itself seems to imply that its position was, at the date of the tradition, believed to be nearer to (Jalilee than to Judjea. Various attempts have been more recently made to determine the localitv of this interesting spot. (In the following particulars we chiefly follow the ar- ticle in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, s. v.).
1. Some (as Alford, Greek Test, ad loc.) propose Shil- him and Ain, in the arid country far in the south of Juda;a, entirely out of the circle of associations of John or our Lord. Others identify it with the Shalim of 1 Sam. ix, 4 ; but this latter place is itself unknown, and the name in Hebrew contains ", to correspond with which the name in John should be SfynXsi'/t or laaXii^,
2. Dr. Robinson {Bibl. liesearches, iii, 333) suggests the modern village of Salim, three miles east of Nablus; but this is no less out of the circle of John's ministra- tions, and is too near the Samaritans ; and although there is some reason to believe that the village contains " two sources of living water" (ibid. p. 298), yet this is hardly sufficient for the abundance of dee|) water im- plied in the narrative. A writer in the Colordal Ch. Chron. No. cxxvi, 4(14, who concurs in this opinion of Dr. Robinson, was told of a village an hour east (?) of Salim "named Ain-un,with a copious stream of water." Lieut. Condcr says {Tent Work in Palestine, i, 92) that Wady Farah, in the locality in question, contains a suc- cession of little but perennial springs, from which the wa- ter gushes out in a fine stream over a stony bed, and that the village of Ain-iin lies five miles north of the stream.
3. Dr. Barclay {City of the Great King, p. 564) is filled with an " assured conviction" that Salim is to be found in Wady Seleiin, and iEnon in the copious springs of Ain Farah {ibid. p. 559), among the deep and intricate ra- vines some five miles north-east of Jerusalem. This certainly has the name in its favor, and, if the glowing description and pictorial wood-cut of Dr. Barclay may be trusted, has water enough (I'Oara TroWn) and of suf- ficient depth for the purpose. But the proximity to Jerusalem is a decided objection. See ^Enon.
4. There is said to be a village called Salim in the plain of Mukhna, east of Nablus, which is probably the Shalem of Gen. xxxiii, 18 (Porter, Handbook, p. 340 ; Robinson, Bibl. Researches, ii, 279) ; but it is too far north to suit the Gospel narrative ; and, besides, it can- not be said of it " there is much water there." See Shalem.
5. The name of Salim has been lately discovered bj' Van de Velde {Syr. and Pal. ii, 345) in a position exact- ly in accordance with the notice of Eusebius, viz. six English miles south of Beisfin and two miles west of the Jordan. On the northern base of Tell Redghah is a site of ruins, and near it a Mussulman tomb, which is called by the Arabs Sheik Salim (see also Memoir, p. 345). Dr. Robinson {Uibl. Researches, iii, 333) com- plains that the name is attached only to a Mussulman sanctuarj', and also that no ruins of any extent are to be found on the spot ; but with regard to the first ob- jection, even Dr. Robinson does not dispute that the name is there, and tliat the locality is in the closest agreement with the notice of Eusebius. As to the sec- ond, it is onl}^ necessary to point to Kefr-Saba, where a town (Antipatris), which so late as the time of the de- struction of Jerusalem was of great size and extensive- ly fortified, has absolutely disappeared. The career of the Baptist has been examined in a former part of this work, and it has been shown with great probability that his progress was from south to north, and that the scene of his last baptisms was not far distant from the spot indicated by Eusebius, and now recovered by Van de Velde. See John ; Joudan. Salim fulfils also the conditions implied in the name of vEnon (springs), and the direct statement of the text that the place con- tained abundance of water. "The brook of Wady Chusneh runs close to it, a splendid fountain gushes out beside the Wely, and rividcts wind about in all direc- tions. ... Of few places in Palestine could it so truly be said, ' Here is much water'" {Syr. and Pal. ii, 34G). Drake, however, avers that " inquiries of the Arabs and fellahln of the district resulted in not a man of them even having heard of either of these places," i. c. Blr Salim and Slieik Salim (iinar. Report of the Pal. Ex- plor. Fund, Jan. 1875, p. 32). See Salem.