“Salacia at Rest”

I don’t know about you all, but I must have been elsewhere when we studied Roman mythology in high school.

 

Before working at  Stravitz Art Gallery, on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach, I attended an art opening there and was admiring the beautiful bronze statues made by the owner, Richard Stravitz. There were many to admire, but living near the ocean, like I do, and loving all things related to the water, one in particular caught my eye, it was titled “Salacia at Rest.”  The card beside it said: “A tribute to that Virginia Beach icon King Neptune.  This represents his bride Salacia.”

 

I knew all about King Neptune, but never knew he had a bride, or never really thought about it.  Along the Boardwalk, near the Hilton Hotel, there is a huge statue of King Neptune and one of their restaurants is called Salacia…now I knew where the name came from!

I decided to do a little research on Salacia and Roman mythology on Wikipedia.  I discovered Salacia was worshipped as the goddess of salt waters who presided over the depths of the oceans of the world.  Her name is Latin from sal, meaning salt.  The god Neptune wanted to marry Salacia, but she was in great awe of her distinguished suitor, and to preserve her virginity, with grace and celerity she managed to glide out of his sight and hid from him in the Atlantic Ocean.  King Neptune was grieving and sent a dolphin to find her and persuade her to return and become his bride and share his throne.  The dolphin, after finding Salacia, got her to agree to return and marry Neptune, the King of the Deep.  Neptune was so overjoyed at this that the dolphin was awarded a place in the heavens, where he is the constellation Delphinus.  Salacia and Neptune had three children, the most famous being Triton.

 

Is the bronze in Stravitz Art Gallery resting after gliding away from Neptune or is she hiding from the dolphin who is looking for her?   Please come into our gallery and decide for yourself.