[en] Three groups of tests are discussed to identify the relative and site-specific importance of deviator stress, confining pressure (mean stress), temperature, time (loading rate), and stress path. The three groups of experiments consist of (1) hydrostatic loading, (2) conventional triaxial compression tests (sigma₁ > sigma₂ = sigma₃ = const.), and (3) variable stress path tests including experiments at approximately constant sigma₁ and at constant mean stress. All data were generated on 100 mm-diameter specimens. The rock salt exhibited nonlinear response under all loading conditions, practically zero initial elastic limit and an apparent inseparability of permanent deformations into time-independent and time-dependent components. Pressure and temperature did not alter the elastic constants but affected the principal strain ratio, the ratio of volumetric to shear strain, rock salt ductility, and the ultimate stress. In particular, low pressure and temperature permitted pronounced dilatancy and loss in load bearing ability. Under such conditions the volumetric strains reached sizable fractions of the shear strains. Pressure remained important even at high temperature because it influenced the rate of shearing. Load path and stress history may be significant under deviatoric loading conditions and for large variations in pressure. 17 figures