Salacia

Salacia was the female Goddess of the sea in ancient Roman mythology, worshiped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean. Her consort was Neptune. Varro implies that Salacia was Neptune's consort, which is confirmed by Seneca, Augustine, and Servius. She is associated with the Greek goddess Amphitrite, Poseidon's consort.

Neptune, the god of the sea, wanted to marry Salacia, but she was so awestruck by her famous suitor that she managed to glide out of his sight and hide from him in the Atlantic Ocean. The Neptune dispatched a dolphin to find her and persuade the fair nymph to return and share his throne. Salacia decided to marry Neptune, and the King of the Deep was so pleased that the dolphin was given a seat in the heavens, where he is today known as the constellation Delphinus.

Salacia is depicted as a beautiful nymph crowned with seaweed, either enthroned behind Neptune or driving alongside him in a pearl shell chariot driven by dolphins, sea-horses (hippocamps), or other fantastic creatures of the deep, and accompanied by Tritons and Nereids. She is dressed as a queen and has nets on her hair. Salacia was the personification of the sea's calm and sunny side. The name Salāci is derived from the Latin sāl, which means "salt," and it refers to the wide, open sea. It is sometimes rendered literally as "sensational." Salacia, Neptune's wife, had him three offspring, the most famous of them was Triton, whose body was half man and half fish. She is also known as the goddess of springs, ruling over the springs of highly mineralized waters. She and Venilia are also known as Neptune's paredrae.