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  (G. A. B.)

 SALMONEUS, in Greek mythology, son of Aeolus (king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the mythic ancestor of the Aeolian race), grandson of Hellen and brother of Sisyphus. He removed to Elis, where he built the town of Salmone, and became ruler of the country. His subjects were ordered to worship him under the name of Zeus; he built a bridge of brass, over which he drove at full speed in his chariot to imitate thunder, the effect being heightened by dried skins and caldrons trailing behind, while torches were thrown into the air to represent lightning. At last Zeus smote him with his thunderbolt, and destroyed the town (Apollodorus i. 9. 7; Hyginus, Fab. 60, 61; Strabo viii. p. 356; Manilius, Astronom. 5, 91; Virgil, Aen. vi. 585, with Heyne's excursus). Joseph Warton's idea that the story is introduced by Virgil as a protest against the Roman custom of deification is not supported by the general tone of the Aeneid itself. According to Frazer (Early History of the Kingship, 1905; see also Golden Bough, i., 1900, p. 82), the early Greek kings, who were expected to produce rain for the benefit of the crops, were in the habit of imitating thunder and lightning in the character of Zeus. At Crannon in Thessaly there was a bronze chariot, which in time of drought was shaken and prayers offered for rain (Antigonus of Carystus, Histariae mirabiles, 15). S. Reinach (Revue archéologique, 1903, i. 154) suggests that the story that Salmoneus was struck by lightning was due to the misinterpretation of a picture, in which a Thessalian magician appeared bringing down lightning and rain from heaven; hence arose the idea that he was the victim of the anger or jealousy of Zeus, and that the picture represented his punishment.

 SALOME, in Jewish history the name borne by several women of the Herod dynasty.
 * 1) Sister of Herod the Great, who became the wife successively of Joseph, Herod's uncle, Costobar, governor of Idumaea, and a certain Alexas.
 * 2) Daughter of Herod by Elpis, his eighth wife.
 * 3) Daughter of Herodias by her first husband Herod Philip. She was the wife successively of Philip the Tetrarch and Aristobulus, son of Herod of Chalcis. This Salome is the only one of the three who is mentioned in the New Testament (Matt. xiv. 3 sqq.; Mark vi. 17 sqq.) and only in connexion with the execution of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas, pleased by her dancing, offered her a reward “unto the half of my kingdom”; instructed by Herodias, she asked for John the Baptist's “head in a charger” (see ).

Salome is also the name of one of the women who are mentioned as present at the Crucifixion (Mark xv. 40), and afterwards in the Sepulchre (xvi. 1). Comparison with Matt. xxvii. 56 suggests that she was also the wife of Zebedee (cf. Matt. xx. 20–23). It is further conjectured that she was a sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, in which case James and John would be cousins of Jesus. In the absence of specific evidence any such identification must be regarded with suspicion.

 SALON, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Boûches-du-Rhône, 40 m. N.N.W. of Marseilles by rail. Pop. (1906), town, 9927; commune, 14,050. Salon is situated on the eastern border of the plain of Crau and on the irrigation canal of Craponne, the engineer of which, Adam de Craponne (1519–1559, has a statue in the town, where he was born. The chief buildings are the church of St Laurent (14th century), which contains the tomb of Michael Nostradamus, the famous astrologer, who died at Salon in 1565, and the church of St Michel (12th century), with a fine Romanesque portal. The central and oldest part of the town preserves a gateway of the 15th century and the remains of fortifications. There are remains of Roman walls near Salon, and in the hôtel-de-ville (17th century) there is a milestone of the 4th century. The town carries on an active trade in oil and soap, which are the chief of its numerous manufactures. Olives are largely grown in the district, and there is a large trade in them and in almonds.

 SALONICA, or  (anc. Thessalonica, Turkish Selanik, Slav. Solun); the capital of the Turkish vilayet of Salonica, in western Macedonia, and one of the principal seaports of south-western Europe. Pop. (1905) about 130,000, including some 60,000 Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors fled hither in the 16th century to escape religious persecution in Spain and Portugal: their language is a corrupt form of Spanish, called Ladino (i.e. Latin), and spoken to some extent by other communities in the city. Salonica lies on the west side of the Chalcidic peninsula, at the head of the Gulf of Salonica (Sinus Thermaicus), on a fine bay whose southern edge is formed by the Calamerian heights, while its northern and western side is the broad alluvial plain produced by the discharge of the Vardar and the Bistritza, the principal rivers of western Macedonia. Built partly on the low ground along the edge of the bay and partly on the hill to the north (a compact mass of mica schist), the city with its white houses enclosed by white walls runs up along natural ravines to the castle of the Heptapyrgion, or Seven Towers, and is rendered picturesque by numerous domes and minarets and the foliage of elms, cypresses and mulberry trees. The commercial quarter of the town, lying to the north-west, towards the great valleys by which the inland traffic is conveyed, is pierced by broad and straight streets paved with lava. There are electric tramways and a good water-supply, but most of the older houses are fragile wooden structures coated with lime or mud, and the sanitation is defective. Apart from churches, mosques and synagogues, there are a few noteworthy modern buildings, such as the Ottoman Bank, the baths, quarantine station, schools and hospitals; but the chief architectural interest of Salonica is centred in its Roman and Byzantine remains.

Antiquities.—The Via Egnatia of the Romans (mod. Jassijol or Grande Rue de Vardar) traverses the city from east to West, between the Vardar Gate and the Calamerian Gate. Two Roman triumphal arches used to span the Via Egnatia. The arch near the Vardar Gate—a massive stone structure probably erected towards the end of the 1st century', was destroyed in 1867 