Fortuna 3

Information regarding Fortuna
http://www.musesrealm.net/rome/festivals.html

Sacrifices were made to her in Rome on January 1
st
to ask for her assistance in the coming
year so it will be lucky and bountiful.
Fortuna Virilis:
April 1
This festival was celebrated by women who wished to improve their relationships
with the men in their lives. It was sacred to both Fortuna and Venus.
http://www.musesrealm.net/deities/fortuna.html
Pantheon: Etruscan, Roman
Titles:
Alternate Names/Spellings: Muliebris, Primigenia, Univirae
Gender: Female
Fortuna is the goddess of fertility, luck, chance, fate, and fortune. She is symbolized by the
wheel of fortune. Fortuna's main festivals were held on May 25th and June 24th. She had a
temple in Rome in the Forum Boarium, and an oracle at Palestrina.
In art, Fortuna often appears standing or sitting on a round globe holding a cornucopia in
one hand and a ship's rudder in the other. She can also be seen with Ploutos in her arms.
Fortuna Augusta: "Luck of the Emperor"
Fortuna Balnearis: "Fortune of the Baths"
Fortuna Conservatrix: "Fortune Who Protects"
Fortuna Equestris: "Fortune of the Knights" -- festival on August 13th
Fortuna Huiusque Diei: "Fortune of the Present Day" -- festival on July 30th
Fortuna Mala: "Fortune with a Beard"
Fortuna Muliebris: "Fortune of Women"
Fortuna Obsequens: "Indulgent Fortune"
Fortuna Primigenia: "Fortune the Firstborn" -- festival on November 13th
Fortuna Publica: "Luck of the People" -- festival on April 5th
Fortuna Redux: "Fortune the Home-Bringer" -- popular with soldiers and those far from
home
Fortuna Respiciens: "Provident Fortune"
Fortuna Romana: "The Luck of Rome" -- patroness of the city of Rome
Fortuna Salutaris: "Fortune of Health"
Fortuna Virgo: "Fortune the Virgin" -- festival on June 11th. The marriage robes of girls
were dedicated to Fortuna Virgo.
Fors Fortuna: June 24

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna
Fortuna
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For other uses, see Fortuna (disambiguation).

Fortuna governs the circle of the four stages of life, the Wheel of Fortune, in a manuscript
of Carmina Burana
Fortuna (Latin: Fortna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) was the goddess of
fortune and personification of luck in Roman religion. She might bring good luck or bad: she
could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Justice, and came to
represent life's capriciousness. She was also a goddess of fate: as Atrox Fortuna, she
claimed the young lives of the princeps Augustus' grandsons Gaius and Lucius, prospective
heirs to the Empire.
[1]

Her father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful (Copia). As
Annonaria she protected grain supplies. June 11 was sacred to her: on June 24 she was
given cult at the festival of Fors Fortuna.
[2][3]

Contents
1 Cult
2 Middle Ages
3 Pars Fortuna in Astrology
4 Aspects of Fortuna
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Cult

Fortuna and Pontos
Fortuna's Roman cult was variously attributed to Servius Tullius whose exceptional good
fortune suggested their sexual intimacy
[4]
and to Ancus Marcius.
[5]
The two earliest
temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the
Tiber (in Italian Trastevere). The first temple dedicated to Fors was attributed to the
Etruscan Servius Tullius, while the second is known to have been built in 293 BC as the
fulfilment of a Roman promise made during later Etruscan wars
[6]
The date of dedication of
her temples was 24 June, or Midsummers Day, when celebrants from Rome annually
floated to the temples downstream from the city. After undisclosed rituals they then rowed
back, garlanded and inebriated.
[7]
Also Fortuna had a temple at the Forum Boarium. Here
Fortuna was twinned with the cult of Mater Matuta (the goddesses shared a festival on 11
June), and the paired temples have been revealed in the excavation beside the church of
Sant'Omobono: the cults are indeed archaic in date.
[8]
Fortuna Primigenia of Praeneste was
adopted by Romans at the end of 3rd BC in an important cult of Fortuna Publica Populi
Romani (the Official Good Luck of the Roman People) on the Quirinalis outside the Porta
Collina.
[9]
No temple at Rome, however, rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine
sanctuary.
Fortuna's identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to virtus (strength of
character). Public officials who lacked virtues invited ill-fortune on themselves and Rome:
Sallust uses the infamous Catiline as illustration "Truly, when in the place of work,
idleness, in place of the spirit of measure and equity, caprice and pride invade, fortune is
changed just as with morality".
[10]

An oracle at the Temple of Fortuna Primigena in Praeneste used a form of divination in
which a small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on oak rods. Cults to
Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman world. Dedications have
been found to Fortuna Dubia (doubtful fortune), Fortuna Brevis (fickle or wayward fortune)
and Fortuna Mala (bad fortune).
She is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts. During the early Empire, an
amulet from the House of Menander in Pompeii links her to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as
Isis-Fortuna.
[11]
She is functionally related to the God Bonus Eventus,
[12]
who is often
represented as her counterpart: both appear on amulets and intaglio engraved gems across
the Roman world.
Her name seems to derive from Vortumna (she who revolves the year).
[citation needed]

The earliest reference to the Wheel of Fortune, emblematic of the endless changes in life
between prosperity and disaster, is from 55 BC.
[13]
In Seneca's tragedy Agamemnon, a
chorus addresses Fortuna in terms that would remain almost proverbial, and in a high
heroic ranting mode that Renaissance writers would emulate:
"O Fortune, who dost bestow the thrones high boon with mocking hand, in dangerous and
doubtful state thou settest the too exalted. Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or
certain tenure; care on care weighs them down, and ever do fresh storms vex their souls.
...great kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way neath the burden of
herself. Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly theirs; the tower which
rears its head to the very clouds is beaten by rainy Auster.... Whatever Fortune has raised
on high, she lifts but to bring low. Modest estate has longer life; then happy he whoeer,
content with the common lot, with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff
to the wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to land."
[14]

Ovid's description is typical of Roman representations: in a letter from exile
[15]
he reflects
ruefully on the "goddess who admits by her unsteady wheel her own fickleness; she always
has its apex beneath her swaying foot."
Middle Ages

The humiliation of Emperor Valerian by king Shapur I of Persia (260) passed into
European cultural memory as an instance of the reversals of Fortuna. In Hans Holbein's
pen-and-ink drawing (1521), the universal lesson is brought home by its contemporary
setting.
Fortuna did not disappear from the popular imagination with the ascendancy of
Christianity by any means.
[16]
Saint Augustine took a stand against her continuing
presence, in the City of God: "How, therefore, is she good, who without discernment comes
to both the good and to the bad? ...It profits one nothing to worship her if she is truly
fortune... let the bad worship her...this supposed deity".
[17]
In the 6th century, the
Consolation of Philosophy, by statesman and philosopher Boethius, written while he faced
execution, reflected the Christian theology of casus, that the apparently random and often
ruinous turns of Fortune's Wheel are in fact both inevitable and providential, that even the
most coincidental events are part of God's hidden plan which one should not resist or try to
change. Fortuna, then, was a servant of God,
[18]
and events, individual decisions, the
influence of the stars were all merely vehicles of Divine Will. In succeeding generations
Boethius' Consolation was required reading for scholars and students. Fortune crept back
into popular acceptance, with a new iconographic trait, "two-faced Fortune", Fortuna
bifrons; such depictions continue into the 15th century.
[19]

Albrecht Drer's engraving of Fortuna, ca 1502
The ubiquitous image of the Wheel of Fortune found throughout the Middle Ages and
beyond was a direct legacy of the second book of Boethius's Consolation. The Wheel appears
in many renditions from tiny miniatures in manuscripts to huge stained glass windows in
cathedrals, such as at Amiens. Lady Fortune is usually represented as larger than life to
underscore her importance. The wheel characteristically has four shelves, or stages of life,
with four human figures, usually labeled on the left regnabo (I shall reign), on the top regno
(I reign) and is usually crowned, descending on the right regnavi (I have reigned) and the
lowly figure on the bottom is marked sum sine regno (I have no kingdom). Medieval
representations of Fortune emphasize her duality and instability, such as two faces side by
side like Janus; one face smiling the other frowning; half the face white the other black; she
may be blindfolded but without scales, blind to justice. She was associated with the
cornucopia, ship's rudder, the ball and the wheel. The cornucopia is where plenty flows
from, the Helmsman's rudder steers fate, the globe symbolizes chance (who gets good or bad
luck), and the wheel symbolizes that luck, good or bad, never lasts.

Fortuna lightly balances the orb of sovereignty between thumb and finger in a Dutch
painting of ca 1530 (Muse des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
Fortune would have many influences in cultural works throughout the Middle Ages. In Le
Roman de la Rose, Fortune frustrates the hopes of a lover who has been helped by a
personified character "Reason". In Dante's Inferno (vii.67-96) Virgil explains the nature of
Fortune, both a devil and a ministering angel, subservient to God. Boccaccio's De Casibus
Virorum Illustrium ("The Fortunes of Famous Men"), used by John Lydgate to compose his
Fall of Princes, tells of many where the turn of Fortune's wheel brought those most high to
disaster, and Boccaccio essay De remedii dell'una e dell'altra Fortuna, depends upon
Boethius for the double nature of Fortuna. Fortune makes her appearance in Carmina
Burana (see image). The Christianized Lady Fortune is not autonomous: illustrations for
Boccaccio's Remedii show Fortuna enthroned in a triumphal car with reins that lead to
heaven,
[20]
and appears in chapter 25 of Machiavelli's The Prince, in which he says Fortune
only rules one half of men's fate, the other half being of their own will. Machiavelli reminds
the reader that Fortune is a woman, that she favours a strong, or even violent hand, and
that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder. Even
Shakespeare was no stranger to Lady Fortune:
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state ... Sonnet 29
Pars Fortuna in Astrology

llustration by Al-Biruni (973-1048) of different phases of the moon, from the Persian Kitab
al-tafhim
In Astrology the term Pars Fortuna represents a mathematical point in the zodiac derived
by the longitudinal positions of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant (Rising sign) in the birth
chart of an individual. It represents an especially beneficial point in the horoscopic chart. In
Arabic Astrology, this point is called Arabian Parts.
[21]

The procedure followed for fixing ones Pars Fortuna in ancient and traditional astrology
depended on the time of birth, viz., during daylight or night time (whether the Sun was
above or below the horizon). In modern western astrology the day time formula only was
used for many years, but with more knowledge of ancient astrology, the two calculation
methods are now often used.
The formula for calculating the day time Part of Fortune (PF) is (using the 360 degree
positions for each point):
PF = Ascendant + Moon - Sun
The formula for the night-time Part of Fortune is PF = Ascendant + Sun - Moon
Each calculation method results in a different zodiac position for the Part of Fortune.
[22]

Al Biruni (973 1048), an 11th-century mathematician, astronomer and scholar, who was
the greatest proponent of this system of prediction, listed a total of 97 Arabic Parts, which
were widely used for astrological consultations. Paul Vachier has prepared an Arabic Parts
Calculator for all the Arabic Parts.
[23]

Aspects of Fortuna

Lady Fortune in a Boccaccio manuscript
Fortuna Annonaria brought the luck of the harvest
Fortuna Belli the fortune of war
Fortuna Primigenia directed the fortune of a firstborn child at the moment of
birth
Fortuna Virilis, "Manly Fortune," was celebrated only by women
Fortuna Redux brought one safely home
Fortuna Respiciens the fortune of the provider
Fortuna Muliebris the luck of a woman. Typical of Roman attitudes, the fortune of
a woman in marriage, however, was Fortuna Virilis.
[citation needed]

Fortuna Victrix brought victory in battle
Fortuna Augusta the fortune of the emperor
[24]

Fortuna Balnearis the fortune of the baths.
[24]

Fortuna Conservatrix the fortune of the Preserver
[25]

Fortuna Equestris fortune of the Knights.
[25]

Fortuna Huiusce Diei fortune of the present day.
[25]

Fortuna Obsequens fortune of indulgence.
[25]

Fortuna Privata fortune of the private individual.
[25]

Fortuna Publica fortune of the people.
[25]

Fortuna Romana fortune of Rome.
[25]

Fortuna Virgo fortune of the virgin.
[25]

Pars Fortuna
[26]

http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/roman.html

Fortuna -
Fortuna is the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fate, and Fortune, as Her name implies. She was a
very popular Goddess, and was worshipped under many epithets depending on the type of
luck one wished to invoke or the circumstances in play. She had many temples in Rome
itself, as well as having important cult-centers in Antium (the modern Anzio), a city on the
west coast of Italy about 30 miles south of Rome, and Praeneste (modern Palestrina), about
20 miles south-east of Rome, both of which were cities of Latium, the land of the Latini
tribes. Her many temples in Rome, and the various aspects of Her worship are a reflection
of the manners in which She was honored: from personal Goddess, overseeing the fate of
the individual mother, young man, or soldier, to a Goddess of the State, ensuring the
fortune of the populace, the luck of the Emperor, or the glorious fate of the entire Roman
Empire.
Fortuna was usually depicted holding in one hand a cornucopia, or a horn of plenty, from
which all good things flowed in abundance, representing Her ability to bestow prosperity; in
the other She generally has a ship's rudder, to indicate that She is the one who controls
how lives and fates are steered. She could also be shown enthroned, with the same
attributes of rudder and cornucopia, but with a small wheel built into the chair,
representing the cycles of fate and the ups and downs of fortune. Sometimes She is blind, as
an acknowledgment that good luck does not always come to those who seem to most deserve
it; at other times She is described as having wings, much like many Etruscan Goddesses
and indeed She was equated with the old Etruscan Fate Goddess Nortia, who was often
shown winged.
The name Fortuna finds its root in the Latin fero, meaning "to bring, win, receive, or get".
She may have originally been a Goddess of Fertility, Who brought prosperity and success in
the form of abundant harvests and offspring. Her worship in Rome traditionally goes back
to the time of Ancus Martius, the 4th King of Rome, who is said to have reigned from 640-
616 BCE. According to the propaganda of the time (and the Romans invented an awful lot
of it to make it seem that their city had always been destined for greatness, and wasn't just
some upstart town founded by a bunch of sheep herders on some hills surrounded by
malaria-infested swampland, which it was), when Fortuna first came to Rome, She
immediately threw off Her shoes and discarded Her wings, announcing that She'd found
Her true home and intended to never leave it.
Alternatively, Fortuna's name may derive from that of the Etruscan Goddess Veltha or
Voltumna, whose name encompasses ideas of turning and the alternating seasons.
Voltumna in turn may be related to the Roman Goddess Volumna, Who watched over and
protected children; and both of these themes are found with Fortuna, who was often
depicted with a wheel, and who was said to predict the fates of children at their births. As a
Goddess of Fate Fortuna naturally had the power to foretell the future; and under Her
aspect of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste She had an oracle, in which tablets inscribed
with messages were chosen from a jar. She also had an oracular shrine at Her cult-center in
Antium.
Fortuna had a very old temple in Rome on a hill between the Forum Romanum (the Roman
Forum) and the Forum Boarium (supposedly the old cattle-market), near to the temple of
Mater Matuta. Both temples had the same dedication day, the 10th of June, and each had a
horseshoe-shaped altar before it of the earliest type. Fortuna's temple had a very old statue
of gilded wood inside, also of an archaic type; and the altar and statue indicate that Her
worship dates at least to the earliest days of Rome, if She is not an earlier Goddess of the
Latins.
The Emperor Trajan (97-117 CE) dedicated a temple to Fortuna, at which offerings were
made to the Goddess on the 1st day of January, at the start of the New Year, probably to
ensure good luck and success for the coming year. This temple was dedicated to Fortuna in
all of Her aspects.
With Greek influence, Fortuna was equated to Tykhe, their Goddess of Luck and Fortune.
Under the title Dame Fortune, Fortuna never lost Her power as an allegorical figureShe
makes an appearance on card 10 of the Tarot Major Arcana, the Wheel of Fortune, and She
is still to some extent honored today, for She features in gamblers' prayers to "Lady Luck".
She is associated with the Goddess Felicitas, the personification of happiness, and Spes, the
Goddess of Hope.
As mentioned above, Fortuna had quite a few aspects, many of which had their own
holidays and centers of worship; I treat them here separately:
Fors Fortuna, Fortuna Antiat, Fortuna of Antium, Fortuna Aucupium, Fortuna Augusta,
Fortuna Balnearis, Fortuna Barbata, Fortuna Bona, Fortuna Brevis, Fortuna Conservatrix,
Fortuna Dubia, Fortuna Equestris, Fortuna Felix, Fortuna Gubernans, Fortuna Huiusce
Diei, Fortuna Liberum, Fortuna Mala, Fortuna Mammosa, Fortuna Manens, Fortuna
Mobilis, Fortuna Muliebris, Fortuna Navirilis, Fortuna Obsequens, Fortuna Patricia,
Fortuna Plebis, Fortuna of Praeneste, Fortuna Primagenia, Fortuna Privata, Fortuna
Publica, Fortuna Redux, Fortuna Respiciens, Fortuna Restitutrix, Fortuna Romana,
Fortuna Salutaris, Fortuna Tranquilla, Fortuna Virginalis, Fortuna Virgo, Fortuna Virilis,
Fortuna Viscata, Sorores Antii.

Fors is an ancient Roman Goddess of prosperity, good luck, and divine blessings. Her name
means "She Who Brings", from the Latin verb fero, and indicates the abundance and
success it was hoped She would bring. She was early on assimilated to Fortuna, probably
originally a Goddess of fertility, and for a time They may have been worshipped as a pair,
later merging into the Goddess called Fors Fortuna. Fors Fortuna represents Fortune in the
classic sense as Goddess of luck or chance, who was acknowledged as sometimes being
fickle or wanton. However She was especially worshipped by slaves and the common people,
as the Goddess who could bring about rags-to-riches transformations, and at least two of
Her temples were founded by former slaves in gratitude for their changed luck.
Fors Fortuna had several temples in Rome, though exactly how many and where is rather
hard to pin down as the written sources can be contradictory. One, said to have been built
by either Ancus Marcius or Servius Tullius (in some tales the son of a slave-woman), both
early Kings of Rome, was built on the right (north) bank of the Tiber. Its festival date,
which usually commemorates a temple's founding, was the 24th of June. Another temple of
the same festival day was said to have been built some 5 miles away along the via
Portuensis (a road which ran along the right bank of the Tiber), near the sacred grove of the
Arval Priests, a very ancient brotherhood of twelve whose job it was to make sacrifices for
the fertility of the fields. There may have been yet another temple to Fors Fortuna on the
right bank of the Tiber, dedicated in 293 BCE by one Carvilius, a Roman freedman who
opened the first public school in Rome and who is credited with having invented the letter
G. And three hundred years later, the emperor Tiberius was said to have dedicated another
temple to Fors Fortuna, in the gardens (or on the land of the estate) of Julius Caesar, in the
year 17 CE.
At these temples Fors Fortuna was given votive offerings by worshippers, in the hopes that
their prayers for good luck would be answered; and many small offerings to Her of bronze
have been found in the area of Her temples.
The festival of Fors Fortuna on June 24th was celebrated with a pilgrimage to Her
temple(s) that proceeded along the Tiber, both on the banks of the river and in the river
itself on boats and barges which were decorated for the day. It was a festival of much mirth
and joy, and much wine-drinking. It may also have been traditional to play games of chance
or place bets at Her parties, for She was the Goddess who brought luck in gambling as well.
Also called: "the Fatal Goddess", "Lucky Chance"

Fortuna Antiat, or Fortuna of Antium is a form of the Roman Goddess of Fortune or Luck
worshipped at Antium, the modern Anzio in Italy, located on the western sea-coast. She
was worshipped in Antium in a double form, and so properly is called the Fortunae Antiates
("Fortunes of Antium"); They were also known as the Sorores Antii, "the Sisters of Antium".
They most likely formed a balanced pair representing the totality of luck which
encompasses both good and bad fortune. On a monument of Antium They are called both
Fortunae Felici Sacrum ("the Happy and Holy Fortuna") and Forti Fortunae Sacrum "the
Sacred and Mighty Fortuna"). Like the Etruscan Goddess Nortia, an attribute of Fortuna of
Antium was the nail, as a symbol of Fate; for by nailing something down its movement is
fixed, in the same way that Fate or Fortune is fixed.
The two Fortunas were depicted on a coin of the Emperor Augustus of 18 BCE as two
female busts on what is perhaps a cart or altar finished with rams' heads; one, with bared
breast, wears a helmet and holds a small offering dish, and Her sister wears a similar
crown or helmet and a high-necked tunic. They are described as Fortuna Victrix,
"Victorious Fortune" and Fortuna Felix, "Happy Fortune".
Antium was the ancient capital city of the Volscian people, who lived in central Italy, south-
east of the Alban Hills. It was a seaside city that in later times was a popular place for the
wealthy of Rome to build their villas; but in its early history it was often an enemy of Rome
and the Latins. It was said to have been founded by Anthias, a son of the Greek sorceress
Kirke; or by Ascanius, a son of Aeneas. Historically, the city of Antium dates from the 5th
century BCE, and though some ancient remains have been found, not a trace of the famous
temple to Fortuna remains.
Fortuna's worship at Antium included a celebrated oracle, just slightly less famous than the
oracle of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. There the paired statues of Fortuna were
ritually brought out on a cart, and then were questioned by drawing lots, as at Praeneste;
and the statues were said to move or bend forward as they gave their answers. This oracle
was quite popular among the people, though never officially consulted by Rome on matters
of state; though that didn't stop the Emperor Caligula (of the infamous and blessedly short
reign) from consulting it. The oracle told the Emperor to beware of one Cassius; he
misinterpreted it and had the wrong one killed, and the correct Cassius later stabbed him
to death as he came out of a theatre.
The Oracle of Fortuna in Antium remained in operation even into the time of the Christian
Emperor Theodosius in the late 4th century CE.
Also called: Fortuna Antiatina (which also means "Fortuna of Antium")


Fortuna Viscata is one of the odder aspects of the Roman Luck-Goddess Fortuna. Her title,
Viscata, means "glue", specifically bird-lime, a sticky substance made from the bark of the
holly tree (or from mistletoe) that was used to catch birds; it was smeared on perches or
twigs and the birds, upon landing, would stick fast. (Viscata is related to our English word
"viscous", meaning "sticky" or "of a thick fluid texture".) Viscata in Fortuna's case is usually
taken to mean "Fortuna the Fowler", referring to the type of hunter who ensnares fowl. She
was evidentially considered important enough to warrant a shrine or temple in the city of
Rome, which like so many others belonging to Fortuna was credited to the early Roman
King Servius Tullius. This shrine may have been on the Palatine hill; however all evidence
of it is now lost.
Though Plutarch, a writer of Greek birth active in the 1st century CE, calls Viscata "a
ridiculous name", he explains that perhaps the name is a metaphor for Fortune's ability to
catch and hold people in Her net of fate from afar. So, then, as "Sticky Fortune" She is the
one who entangles and fixes mankind in the circumstances of Fate, from which there is
little hope of escape.
An alternate and rather happier interpretation sees Fortuna Viscata as the Goddess Who
entices or brings good things from afar and fixes them permanently in an individual's life,
and Who makes prosperity stick around.
She was called in the Greek Tykhe Ixeuteria "Fortune Who is Like Bird-Lime"; this epithet
is defined as being the equivalent of aucupium, "Fowler", though another definition of
aucupium is "eavesdropper".
Also called: Fortuna Aucupium

Fortuna Augusta is a form of the Roman Goddess of Fortune and Good Luck Who looks
after the prosperity of the Emperor. Her cult was associated with the genius or guardian
spirit of the Emperor. Augusta, meaning "sacred, dignified, or majestic" was a title of the
imperial period which was given to the consort of the Emperor (who was called Augustus,
after the first Emperor, Octavian). Augusta then is an epithet used specifically of the
imperial family, symbolically making Fortuna a "spouse" of the Emperor who is intimately
connected with him.
Every man had a genius, as every woman had a juno; and the genius ensured that a man
was virile and able to father children. The genius of the Emperor, the Genius Augusti, kept
watch over the Emperor and kept him fortunate and fertile, for his lot was symbolically the
lot of the Roman state. Offerings were made to the Genius Augusti at every formal dinner,
by decree of the Senate, probably as a thanks for the bounty received during the Emperor's
reign.
Fortuna Augusta was just one of many divine qualities the Emperor was supposed to
personify, and Her worship formed part of the imperial cult. The first Roman leader who
was deified was Julius Caesar, though Augustus (Octavian) was the first Emperor to be
made a God after his (His) death. But early Emperors seem to have been somewhat
uncomfortable with the idea, and only allowed true Emperor worship for those who had
already died (though in the eastern stretches of the Empire worship of the living family was
practiced, in association with the Goddess Roma), instead shifting the worship of the living
Emperor to his genius. The crazy Emperors like Nero had no such qualms though, and in
time the living Emperor (and His family) were worshipped as Gods and given sacrifices,
and Emperor worship was expected of the people as an expression of patriotism. As part of
this cult, Fortuna Augusta was honored, and several altars to Her have been found.
Fortuna as a propagandistic tool of the reigning Emperor was featured on coins, to connect
Her good luck and prosperity with his reign. On one coin of Hadrian, She is shown shaking
His hand; on one of the Emperor Claudius She stands with him in the temple of Roma and
Augustus (the deified city of Rome and the Emperor) and offers him a wreath as for a
victory. Sometimes a female member of the imperial family was depicted in guise of
Fortuna, making the Goddess a part of his family.
Fortuna Augusta had a temple in Pompeii which was built by Marcus Tullius; according to
the inscription on it the temple was built solo et pequnia sua, "on his land and at his own
expense". Tullius was a local magistrate who had held numerous other offices, and been
made a military officer by the Emperor Augustus himself. This temple was dedicated in 3 or
4 CE, but heavily damaged in the earthquake of 62CE (a preliminary grumbling of the
volcano Vesuvius which was to cataclysmically erupt 15 years later) and was never rebuilt.
It had been a very beautiful and magnificent building, faced with marble and of very good
workmanship, but the damage was too extensive and the material was reused in other
buildings. Inside had been a statue of Fortuna, with Her rudder and probably an oar
(another metaphor for Her ability to drive destiny) as well as other statues in niches along
the interior side walls. With Her temple damaged and not rebuilt, one wonders if the
eruption of Vesuvius which was to completely wipe out any trace of Pompeii was taken as a
sign that Fortuna had abandoned the city...
Also called: Fortuna Caesaris

Fortuna Balnearis, which means "Fortuna of the Baths", is an aspect of the Roman Goddess
of Fortune associated with bath-houses as a Goddess of Health. She was especially
worshipped by soldiers in remote outposts (wonder if that includes Tomen-y-Mur, the
remotest of the remote, up in northern Wales) with two of Her other aspects, Fortuna
Salutaris ("Wholesome or Health-bringing Fortuna") and Fortuna Redux ("Fortuna Who
Brings [Soldiers] Home"). These epithets reflect the concerns of people far from home in
what could be hostile, conquered, un-Roman, and therefore "uncivilized", lands.
Roman culture was known for its attention to personal cleanliness and hygiene, and any
provincial town that had the means would have built a public bath-house as a sign of its
civilized Roman nature. The general layout of a public bath-house could be quite elaborate,
with seperate baths for hot, warm, and cold water, as well as rooms for exercise. Bathers
would leave their clothes and other possessions on pegs or with servants; but bath-houses
were notorious places for theft, and there are many examples of "curse tablets" offered to
Deities to punish people who had stolen items from them while bathing. Perhaps Fortuna,
as Goddess of Luck, was associated with bath-houses in recognition of the vulnerability of
bathers, who were not only vulnerable because they were naked, but were often stolen from
to boot.
Fortuna Balnearis was especially a Goddess of military bath-houses, reflecting the extra
uncertainty and vulnerability of the soldiers stuck way out on the frontiers, often in lands
with very different climates like Brittania with its miserable perpetual rain and chill, or
with inhabitants who didn't know the first thing about cleanliness; Her other aspects of
Salutaris and Redux are concerned with health and bringing the soldiers home in one piece,
and it is likely that Fortuna Balnearis was also concerned with the health of the soldiers,
especially through the practice of good hygiene.

Fortuna Liberum and Fortuna Barbata are aspects of Fortuna, who oversees the luck of
young people. Fortuna Liberum protected children and brought them luck; Her name
means, not surprisingly, "Fortuna of the Children", though an alternate meaning of liberum
is "unimpeded" or "free", which perhaps refers to the freedom of children who are not yet
expected to contribute to society.
Fortuna Barbata, "Fortune of the Beards", was the Goddess to whom boys offered the first
cuttings of their new beards as they became men, and She represents a Deity who watches
over and blesses the transition from childhood to adulthood. Barbata in the Latin also has
the meaning of "adulthood" or "sign of being an adult", and a beard was symbolically a
mark of adulthood. "Bearded" Fortuna, in other words, the Goddess Fortuna who has a
beard, has been used of Fortuna Mala, usually translated as "Bad Fortune"; perhaps there
has been some confusion or bad translation somewhere, because mala does not seem to ever
translate as "beard".
For the aspect of Fortuna Who watches over a girl's transition to womanhood (which in
those days meant marriage), see Fortuna Virgo.

Fortuna Bona, literally "Good Fortune" is a benevolent aspect of the Roman Goddess of
Luck and Chance, Fortuna. The Latin word bona, usually translated simply as "good", has
connotations of honesty, morality and bravery, and can also mean "good things", "profit", or
"wealth", all of which deepen the richness of what Fortuna Bona can bring. She was
considered the wife, sister, or cult-partner of the God Bonus Eventus (whose name means
"Successful Outcome") Who was also a Deity of success and luck. He was likely a Harvest-
God originally, who brought prosperity and abundance to the populace, and like Fortuna,
He was very popular with the people.
Fortuna Bona had two temples in Rome, one in the Forum Boarium, the supposed "Cattle
Market" of Rome, on a flat spot down by the Tiber River, which was said to have been built
by Servius Tullius; it may be the same temple mentioned in the Fortuna index page as
being near to that of the Goddess Mater Matuta. The second temple was said to have been
built by the youngest of the Marcus Aemilius Lepiduses, the one who was in the
triumvirate with Antony and Octavian (later the Emperor Augustus), and was built in
honor of Julius Caesar (whose luck wouldn't hold). It was located in the Curia Hostilia, the
earliest of the Senate-houses of Rome, which burnt down in 52 BCE.
Fortuna Bona was often mentioned in the same breath as Fortuna Mala, "Bad Fortune", as
each having temples in Rome, and though they were separate, it seems the two were alter
egos. They could also be stamped on coins, and were sometimes depicted together as two
opposite and balancing aspects of Chance.
Also called: Bona Fortuna

Fortuna, Roman Goddess of Fate, Chance, Luck, and Fortune, was considered a Goddess of
changing character by the Romans, and as such was known under several titles describing
Her whimsical or fickle nature as a Deity Who could bring good or back luck according to
Her whim. I've grouped these aspects together here, then, as they are related.
Fortuna Dubia is "Dubious Fortune", "Critical Fortune", or even "Dangerous Fortune", and
perhaps refers to luck or happenstance that brings mixed blessings, or which is especially
unstable; She was probably propitiated to avert this kind of luck and to bring a more calm
stability to things. She evidentally had a shrine in Rome on the Aventine, as there was a
street there called the Vicus Fortunae Dubiae.
Fortuna Brevis, "Brief Fortune", refers to Fortune as fickle and to good luck that does not
last. According to Plutarch, King Servius Tullius, a devout follower of the Goddess Fortune
as he'd been born a slave but died a King, built a shrine to Fortuna Brevis, which Pultarch
calls, "Little Fortune". His rationalization of Her epithet is that sometimes the slightest
change, choice, or bit of luck which seems quite insignificant at the time can actually lead to
great rewards or great failures. This is the luck that it easiest to make out in hindsight; and
the warning is that one should not disregard these small chances but appreciate them, for
they are the curious workings of the divine plan of Fate, and are more important than you
think.
Fortuna Manens was named for the more constant (and more desirable) form of luck, and
the title means "Enduring" or "Abiding". She was depicted on coins of the Emperor
Commodus (the 2nd century Emperor called in my Classical Handbook "the worthless son
of Marcus Aurelius", and who was portrayed in the movie Gladiator by Joaquin Phoenix) as
an enthroned Goddess with Her usual cornucopia to symbolize abundance. With Her right
hand, however, She holds a horse by its bridle. The symbolism of this is unclear; perhaps
She was able to "rein in" Her capriciousness, or perhaps She is to be equated with Fortuna
Equestris. There is also the outside chance that Fortuna Manens was the one you prayed to
for luck in attracticing lovers, for another meaning of manens is "to stay the night to have
sex"!
Fortuna Mobilis, by contrast, was the opposite of Fortuna Manens, for Her name means
"Changeable", "Shifting", "Fickle", or "Easily Swayed" Fortune; She was paired with
Fortuna Manens as Her balancing and opposing force.

Fortuna Conservatrix is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Fate and Luck. Her name
means "Fortuna the Preserver", "Fortuna the Defender" or "Fortuna the Protectress". She
seems to have been worshipped especially by soldiers, as several altars dedicated to Her
have been found in the northern outposts of Britannia, in Mamucium (modern Manchester,
Englandincidentally the Roman name comes from a Celtic word and means "Breast-
shaped Hill"!), Castra Exploratum (which means "Test Camp" and is an indication of the
tentative nature of the settlement, modern Netherby), and Cilernum (Chesters) on
Hadrian's Wall. On the northernmost limit of the Empire, up among the painted Picts, the
Romans must have felt especially nervous and in need of Fortuna's protection and good
luck.
Not everyone at the outposts was Roman by birth, though, as the fort at Cilernum was at
one time manned by a cavalry division from Austria; the altar there was dedicated to
Fortuna Conservatrix by one Venenus, named on the altar as a "German". On the altar
Fortuna is depicted in a naive provincial style, with what is probably a cornucopia, and
what may be a tiny wheel behind Her. Though not Roman, Venenus was still a long way
from home in a strange land, and in need of Fortuna's protection.
Conservatrix was also used as an epithet of Juno.

think.
sex"!

Fortuna Equestris is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Fate and Luck Who was an
especial patroness of the equestrian class or equites, sometimes called knights, as well as
their horses.
The equites were originally the horse-soldiers of the Roman army, taken from the three old
Roman tribes. These tribes were some of the original settlers of Rome and constituted the
earliest patrician class, and were made up of the Ramnes, Latins who had a settlement on
the Palatine hill, traditionally founded by Romulus; the Tities, Sabines living on the
Quirinal and Viminal hills, people of King Tatius, who joined with Rome; and the Luceres
on the Caelian hill, an Etruscan tribe. From these peoples were chosen both the senators
and the equites; in the case of the equites one century of one-hundred horsemen from each.
The state provided the horse, as well as money for its upkeep; with time the number of
equites was increased, and incorporated people from other tribes. Equites were required to
be of spotless character as well as of patrician or "noble" birth, and represented a sub-class
of the wealthy of Rome who had special political privileges.
Fortuna had several titles relating to the classes of Roman society. She could be Fortuna
Patricia, Fortune of the patrician or noble class, Fortuna Plebis, Fortune of the plebeians,
the common people who were originally those descended from the conquered Latin tribes
and who did not have the rights and privileges of the patricians; and Fortuna Equestris of
the equites. These epithets indicate just how deeply divided ancient Roman society was by
class, as they needed three separate and distinct varieties of Fortuna so each class could
have its own.
Fortuna Equestris had a temple at Antium, the modern Anzio, which was once the capital
of the Volsci of Latium, a tribe who spoke a language closely akin to Umbrian, and who
were often enemies of Rome; She may originally have been a Deity specific to that area. She
also had a temple in Rome itself, built by Flaccus, a consul (roughly a "president" of Rome
under the Republic), who vowed to build it during a battle with the Celts of Iberia (Spain).
He made it out of the battle alive, and in 173 BCE dedicated Her temple in the Circus
Flaminius (actually a square rather than a horse-trackthe temple to Juno Regina was
located there as well), near to the Theatre of Pompey. He also appropriated some fancy
marble tiles for Fortuna's temple from the splendid temple of Juno Lacinia near Croton, but
the Senate made him put them back.
The festival of Fortuna Equestris was August 13th, the date of the dedication of Her temple
in Rome.
She may be equated with Fortuna Manens, "Constant Fortune"

There are several aspects of Fortune who seem to be connected with merchants or sea-
voyages; though the links are admittedly tenuous, I've grouped them here for convenience.
Fortuna Felix is another aspect of the much-beloved Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna. Her
title means "Happy" or "Blessed", "Lucky", "Favorable" or "Fruitful". She seems to have
been one of the dual Fortunes worshipped in the city of Antium, where They had a famous
oracle. She was depicted on coins of the Empire with a cornucopia, symbol of the great good
things She could provide, and a rudder to show that She was the one Who steered the fate
of humans. She could also be shown standing of the prow of a ship, or sometimes with the
caduceus, usually a symbol of Mercury or Hermes. As Mercury was a God of travellers and
merchants, perhaps this aspect of Fortuna was especially helpful in bringing luck to
business ventures or overseas trade.
Fortuna Tranquilla was invoked to bring prosperity in sea-voyages, as She could bring calm
weather on the seas. And as tranquilla could also refer to other sorts of quiet or calm
affairs, perhaps She was the Fortuna Who brought the stability of circumstance and
calmness of mind that could form the basis for level-headed and successful dealings in
business ventures.
There is also a Fortuna Gubernans, meaning "Fortune Who Steers or Guides" (from this
root comes our words "governor" and "gubernatorial"); She too was shown with a rudder
and horn of plenty. Though many varieties of Fortuna were shown with ship parts, Fortuna
Gubernans may have been more specifically concerned with sailors and ship voyages, and
"fortuna" is a term still used by Italian sailors for a storm at sea.
Then there is Fortuna Navirilis; I'm not sure what the meaning of this epithet is, but it may
be related to navis, "ship"; if so She would presumably be another form of Luck concerned
with sea-voyages.
Fortuna Felix may be associated with the Goddess Felicitas, the personification of
happiness.

business ventures.
with sea-voyages.
happiness.

Fortuna Huiusce Diei is the Roman Goddess of Fate, Fortuna, in Her aspect as "Fortune of
the Present Day", who has the power to bring good things and good luck right now.
Her temple in Rome was located in the Campus Martius, the "Field of Mars", and though
the precise location is still debated, it is most probably the little round temple ("Temple B")
in the modern Area Sacra di Largo Argentina in Rome, which when uncovered included
some fragments of a female cult-statue. The temple was vowed by the general Lutatius
Catulus during the battle of Vercellae, June 30th, 101 BCE, who was obviously happy that
the fortune of that day included his survival. He used the spoils of the defeated Celtic tribe,
the Cimbri, to build the temple, which was dedicated (officially opened) on a later
anniversary of the battle. (Alas, his good fortune did not last: he later chose the wrong side
in the civil war and was persuaded to commit suicide.) The fragments of the white marble
cult-statue from Temple B include the head of a matronly-looking Goddess, Her hair bound
up in a conservative style. She has majestic features (and incidentally, pierced ears), and
Her mouth is slightly open.
Fortuna Huiusce Diei likely had a shrine or altar on the Palatine, as there was a street on
that hill called the Vicus Huiusce Diei, supposedly named for it. According to Pliny the
Elder, this shrine was supposed to have contained a statue of Athene made by the famous
Greek sculptor Phidias, who also made the great chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of
Athene for the Parthenon in Athens. This statue was dedicated by Aemilius Paulus, who
took it as spoils from a battle in Greece, and who died in 160 BCE, which would make this
temple to Fortuna Huiusce Diei an earlier and different temple than the one in the Campus
Martius.
Her festival was held on the anniversary of Her temple's dedication, June 30th.
Also called: Fortuna Huiusque
Alternate meanings of Her name: "Good Fortune for Today", "Luck of the Day"

Fortuna Liberum and Fortuna Barbata are aspects of Fortuna, who oversees the luck of
young people. Fortuna Liberum protected children and brought them luck; Her name
means, not surprisingly, "Fortuna of the Children", though an alternate meaning of liberum
is "unimpeded" or "free", which perhaps refers to the freedom of children who are not yet
expected to contribute to society.
Fortuna Barbata, "Fortune of the Beards", was the Goddess to whom boys offered the first
cuttings of their new beards as they became men, and She represents a Deity who watches
over and blesses the transition from childhood to adulthood. Barbata in the Latin also has
the meaning of "adulthood" or "sign of being an adult", and a beard was symbolically a
mark of adulthood. "Bearded" Fortuna, in other words, the Goddess Fortuna who has a
beard, has been used of Fortuna Mala, usually translated as "Bad Fortune"; perhaps there
has been some confusion or bad translation somewhere, because mala does not seem to ever
translate as "beard".
For the aspect of Fortuna Who watches over a girl's transition to womanhood (which in
those days meant marriage), see Fortuna Virgo.

Fortuna Mala is an aspect of Fortuna, the Roman Goddess of Luck and Chance Who is able
to ward off bad luck, because She can also bring it. Fortuna in general was considered
beneficial, but also capable of being inconstant and fickle; as She sometimes rewarded those
who plainly did not deserve it with excellent good luck, She was occasionally portrayed as
blind. Fortuna Mala is Fortune at Her worst; She causes the unlucky series of events
common to tragedies, and is that Fortune Who, according to Shakespeare "plays the
huswife", or the fickle hussy (which my old dictionary describes as "a pert, frolicsome
wench").
The Romans, in their superstitious mindset, may have thought that Fortuna Mala was a
force of balance in the Universe, in a Murphy's Law sort of way, rather like the modern
aphorism "No good deed goes unpunished". Which is sad; but there are plenty of examples
of this kind of philosophy in Roman historyfor instance victorious Roman generals were
sometimes celebrated in great processions called triumphs in which the spoils of victory
were displayed; but it was also traditional that a slave stood behind the general in his
chariot and constantly whispered, Respice post te, hominem memento te ("Look behind you!
Remember that you are just a man!") or Memento mori, ("Remember you will die").
This attitude is illustrated in an episode of the life of Aemilius, a Roman general of the 2nd
and 3rd centuries BCE. He had sacked Epirus, a region of northern Greece, and was
granted a triumph on his return home. But his grand moment came between the deaths of
two of his sons, one of whom died five days before, the other just three days after the
triumph. Aemilius is said to have regarded this as a balancing force of evil the Gods sent
him to counteract the good fortune he had experienced in battle.
Fortuna Mala had a very old altar on the Esquiline Hill, though where exactly is not
known. She is also said to have had a temple somewhere in Rome, as did Her alter ego
Fortuna Bona, "Good Fortune"; whether it is connected with the altar on the Esquiline is
unknown. Cicero, a philosopher, statesman, and lawyer of the time of Julius Caesar,
complained that Fortuna Mala's altar on the Esquiline should have been abolished, as
should the altar to Febris, or "Fever", as they celebrated vices rather than virtues; I think
in his "modern, rational" view he was missing the point that such forces not only act to
balance things, but as dark forces they especially need to be honored and placated, so they
will see fit to not bring their misfortunes upon the people.
Fortuna Mala was depicted on coins, as was Fortuna Bona.
She was also called Mala Fortuna.
She is also sometimes called "Fortune With a Beard"; I don't know where this comes from
according to the Latin, mala can translate as "bad", "evil", "ugly", "unlucky", "mischief",
"disaster"; "apple" (hence the idea that the fruit eaten by Eve in the Bible was an apple), or
even "lemon"; and sometimes "cheeks" or "jaws" which is close; but not "beard" itself, far as
I could find. There are reports of a bearded Aphrodite, as an androgynous/hermaphroditic
Deity associated with sexual union (and in researching that I was surprised to find out that
there is a song by my beloved Andy Partridge, of XTC fame, called "Bearded Aphrodite"; I
s'pose if anyone knows these weird mythological things it'd be him); and there is Mylitta of
the east, also a Goddess of Sexuality, who could be shown with a beard (She is probably
related to Malidthu, the Canaanite Mother of Adonis); but Fortuna Mala, is not, as far as I
know, connected with sex. There is, however, a Fortuna Barbata, who was offered the first
clippings of a youth's beard as a wish for luck as a boy transitioned to a man.

There's not a lot known about Fortuna Mammosa except Her name and the fact that She
had a shrine or altar in that part of Rome called Region XII. This shrine was probably
somewhere between the Porta Capena on the Caelian Hill (near the grove of the Camenae)
and the Baths of Caracalla in the southern part of the city. The shrine was evidentally old
enough or famed enough to be a landmark, as the street by which it was set up was called
after it the Vicus Fortunae Mammiosae.
Mammosa, as one might guess, is just what it looks like: it is formed from the Latin root
mamma, meaning "breast", with the suffix -ose, which adds the meaning of "abounding in",
"full of", or "rich in". Given that, Fortuna Mammosa may either have been famous for
having large breasts, or for having many breasts, like the Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus. If
the former, perhaps Fortuna Mammosa was a Goddess of abundance and nourishment, who
brought good luck in mothering and nurturing, or who helped the milk in a new mother's
breasts to flow.
If the latter, She may have been depicted like the Asiatic Nature-Goddess of Ephesus,
called Artemis, as She was a Goddess of Nature. She was, however, a distinct Goddess from
the Greek Artemis who was assimilated to Her due to some minor similarities; for Artemis
of Ephesus was a great goddess of fruitfulness and fertility. She was depicted in an archaic
form, Her body tightly sheathed in a decorated skirt, wearing a garlanded breastplate, and
with a mural crown on Her head. Her most outstanding feature, however, is that Her torso
is completely covered with what have been labelled breasts, a dozen or more; and this had
led Her to be called by the ancients Artemis Polymastos ("Artemis Many-breasted").
However, they don't particularly look like breasts and there is some difference of opinion as
to just what they areeggs, dates, and even the testicles of sacrificed bulls have been
suggested (I'm with the last one, as that's what they look like the most to me). At any rate,
if Fortuna Mammosa resembled this Artemis, She may perhaps be a Goddess of the wild
abundance of nature or even the hunt, Who brought the bounty of nature to humans.
That's all conjecture, though.

think.
sex"!

Fortuna Muliebris ("Womanly or Female Fortune") is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of
Luck and Fate Who cared for the well-being and luck of women, especially married women.
It is likely that Fortuna was a Goddess of Women and Childbirth from earliest times; Her
oldest cult-center at Praeneste was dedicated to Fortuna Primigenia, First-born Fortune,
whose epithet not only referenced Her ancient nature but Her connection with children and
birth, and the site of Her oracle in a small cave connects Her to the Mother Goddess of the
Earth. So though Her epithet of Muliebris may not be Her oldest one, the idea of Fortuna as
concerned with the fates of women is very ancient. As childbirth is not the safest thing to
experience even nowadays, Fortuna may have been invoked to preserve the health of the
mother and new born baby, and bring a quick, easy and (relatively) painless delivery.
Like most depictions of Fortuna, Fortuna Muliebris was shown with a rudder and
cornucopia, symbolizing Fate who guides, and the abundance chance may bring. She is
usually seated, which represents a wish for the stability of good fortune. According to the
legend, worship of Fortuna Muliebris was instituted at a time when Rome was under attack
in the 5th century BCE by Cnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, a descendant of Ancus Marcius, an
early King. Once a hero of Rome, he later led an army of Volscians against the city, and
refused all the pleadings of the senators and the priests to stop the attack. Until, that is,
the matrons (married women) of Rome, along with his mother, Veturia, and his wife and
their two young children came to plead with him. They managed to convince him to call it
off, and on the spot where Veturia talked him out of it, he dedicated a temple to Fortuna
Muliebris in honor of the women.
This temple was on the Via Latina, one of the main roads out of Rome, and located about 4
miles from the city. It was traditionally founded prior to the mid-4th century BCE on the
6th day of July, which became its festival day. Her statue there could only be touched by
matrons who had been married once, and was credited with being able to speakwhen
consecrated, the statue was said to have said, "Women of the City, you have dedicated me
by the holy law of Rome".
She could be depicted on coins, especially those of the female relatives of Emperors, as a
prayer for the health and fecundity of the imperial family.

business ventures.
with sea-voyages.
happiness.

Fortuna Obsequens, "Indulgent or Yielding Fortune", or "Fortune Who Humors", is an
aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna. As per the usual depictions of Fortuna,
Fortuna Obsequens was usually shown with a rudder and cornucopia; however sometimes
She has a patera, or offering dish, perhaps referring to Her especial tendency to hear and
grant prayers in response to libations offered, as indicated by Her title of "Indulgent".
Fortuna Obsequens had a shrine in Rome on the street named for Her, the Vicus Fortunae
Obsequens, perhaps on the Caelian Hill, the most south-easterly of the seven hills. It was
said to have been built there by Servius Tullius, an early King of Rome. There may have
been another temple to Her in the city, which was said to have been restored by one
Antonine, though which one I can't tell, as it was a very common name.
Her name was sometime (mis)spelled on coins as Fortuna Opsequens.
Obsequens is also an ephitet of Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty.

The Roman Goddess of Luck and Fate, Fortuna, was one of Rome's favorite Goddesses,
worshipped under a bewildering array of epithets, for every circumstance and station of the
worshipper. She was even divided into specific aspects for the Roman social classes, and as
such was worshipped as Fortuna Plebis, Fortuna Equestris, and Fortuna Patricia, for the
plebeian, equestrian, and patrician classes respectively. Fortuna Equestris, as the Goddess
of the Fortune of the equites, or horsemen class, was also a Goddess of their horses, She has
been treated on Her own page here. Fortuna Plebis and Fortuna Patricia, Goddess of the
Luck of the commoners and nobles, have been grouped together here.
The plebeians were the commoner class of ancient Rome. They may have descended from
the original population of the area conquered by the early tribes who would come to form
the patricians, or noble class, of Rome. As conquered people, they were to some extent
dependent on the conquerors who had taken their land, and as such had limited rights; the
early history of the Roman Republic chronicles the struggles between the two classes and
the demands of the plebeians for rights, who were originally excluded from the workings of
the government and priesthood, though they could, of course, be compelled into the army.
In time they did win some rights, such as being able to elect their own tribunes (literally,
an "officer of the tribe") and aediles (who assisted the tribunes); and furthermore, it was
made into law that at least one of the two consuls, the highest magisterial office of Rome
(roughly equivalent to a joint presidency) elected each year had to be a plebeian.
The patricians were the "nobles" from whom the senators, priests, and other civil servants
were chosen; they traditionally descended from the three early tribes of Rome, made up of
Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans, who settled on the hills by the Tiber, forcing the original
inhabitants out. From their ranks the equites, or horsemen class, were also taken.
Given the struggles between the plebeians and the patricians one wonders how Fortuna, as
both Fortuna Plebis and Fortuna Patricia, could be on both sides of the conflict at once, as it
were.

Fortuna Primigenia is an old Goddess of Fate and Luck in Roman myth whose worship was
centered around the city of Praeneste, the modern Palestrina in Italy. Praeneste was a city
of the Latini tribe in the region of Italy named Latium for them, and was located about 20
miles south-east of Rome, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There Fortuna Primigenia
had a great temple complex and an oracle, appropriate to a Goddess of Fate.
Her name was often interpreted as "First-born" or "Eldest", and taken to mean that She
was the eldest daughter of Jupiter; so She was also called puer Jouis, or "Child of Jupiter".
However, the title Primigenia should be more properly taken to mean "Primordial" or
"Original" Fortune, as it refers to the antiquity of Her worship at Praeneste, which was
older than that at Rome. As Praeneste was often at odds with Rome during the Republic,
and not made part of Rome until the first century BCE, Fortuna Primigenia was regarded
as a "foreign" Goddess by the somewhat xenophobic Romans, though they did come to
embrace Her in time.
As the "First-born" daughter of Jupiter, Fortuna Primigenia was believed to fix the new-
born child's destiny or fate. Her name could also be interpreted as "First-bearer", as in the
first to bear children; and She was depicted as suckling two infant children, who were said
to be Juno and Jupiter, i.e., the supreme female and male principles, symbolizing totality as
Mother and Father Deities. Naturally as a Goddess connected with childbirth, She was
especially favored by married women.
Her temple complex in Praeneste was built into the side of a great hill, and had several
levels of terraces and staircases, a basilica, and curia (meeting-hall), with the small circular
temple to Fortuna at the top. It was a huge complex, measuring 1300-plus feet at the base
of it and stretching vertically up the hillside for 450 feet, and it incorporated two reservoirs
which provided water for a great fountain as well as for the surrounding town. The ruins
today are very impressive, though a palace was built on the foundations in the Renaissance;
following the original layout, it kept the semicircular shape of the colonnade just below the
temple (alas, the temple itself has long since vanished), as is not uncommon of medieval or
Renaissance structures built over ancient sites, since it's easier to built on foundations that
are already there than to take them apart and start from scratch. On the oldest level, that
of the basilica, are two small caves or grottoes, the one to the west most likely being the
original shrine of Fortuna around which the complex was built. The temple of Fortuna
Primigenia was one of the largest in ancient Italy, if not the largest, and owing to its
spectacular situation on a hill, could be seen from all over Latium, even from as far away as
Rome.
The Oracle of Fortuna at Praeneste was of a fame to rival Delphi's, and was called the
sortes Praenestinae, or "the Praenestine lots". According to legend, one Numerius Suffustius
was told in a dream to delve into the stone at a certain spot in Praeneste. When he did just
that, he found some mysterious pieces of oak inscribed with sayings written in an archaic
alphabet. These tablets were then kept in a box and used at the oracle to Fortuna
established there: when the oracle was to be consulted, a young child went to the box and,
after shaking it, picked one of the tablets at random. He then gave it to the questioner, who
was left to interpret the meaning for him or herself. The Oracle at Praeneste remained
popular for centuries and was only closed down in the reign of the Christian Emperor
Theodosius in the 4th century CE.
Like Fors Fortuna, Fortuna Primigenia had several temples in Rome. One of these was on
the Capitoline Hill and was traditionally ascribed to Servius Tullius, an early King of Rome
who had been born a slave and risen to be King, and who had also built a temple to Fors
Fortuna by the Tiber. Three more temples to Fortuna gave their name to a neighborhood on
the Quirinal Hill, the tres Fortunae, located just by the gate of the porta Collina; one of
these temples was dedicated to Fortuna Publica, ("Fortuna of the People"), but the other
two were to Fortuna Primigenia. The largest of the three was given to Fortuna Publica
Populi Romani Quiritium Primigenia ("First-born Fortuna of the Roman Nation, its People
and Citizens"), Her name and titles as they were officially known in Rome, and dedicated in
194 BCE on May 25th, which thereafter became its festival day. The third temple, of which
there is not much known, had its festival day on November 13th.
Fortuna Primagenia's worship was originally centered in a grotto, a small cave (it is related
to the word crypt) of a type celebrated in Italy for being a cool and refreshing place out of
the sun; often water is found in grottoes. Fortuna's Praenestine grotto likely did have a
spring or other form of water in it, and it had been decorated with a great mosaic in its floor
that depicted the Greek Sea-God Poseidon, who was equated with the Roman Neptune,
originally a God of fresh waters. Caves are a symbol of the earth and the Earth-Mother;
they are additionally gateways to the Underworld, and connect the lands of the living and
dead, the lands of mortals and the Gods. Oracles are frequently found at sites that have
caves or springs or that otherwise connect to the interior of the earth through such features
as natural fissures or volcanic vents (as is the case at Delphi). Given this, Primordial
Fortune can be seen as an ancient chthonic Goddess, an Earth-Mother Who has the power
to give abundant good things from Her earthgold, silver, gems, plants, animals, a
bountiful harvest, success and good luckand Who can predict the future that She sets as a
Fate-Goddess Who controls the life, fortune, and death of all.

Fortuna Primigenia is an old Goddess of Fate and Luck in Roman myth whose worship was
centered around the city of Praeneste, the modern Palestrina in Italy. Praeneste was a city
of the Latini tribe in the region of Italy named Latium for them, and was located about 20
miles south-east of Rome, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There Fortuna Primigenia
had a great temple complex and an oracle, appropriate to a Goddess of Fate.
Her name was often interpreted as "First-born" or "Eldest", and taken to mean that She
was the eldest daughter of Jupiter; so She was also called puer Jouis, or "Child of Jupiter".
However, the title Primigenia should be more properly taken to mean "Primordial" or
"Original" Fortune, as it refers to the antiquity of Her worship at Praeneste, which was
older than that at Rome. As Praeneste was often at odds with Rome during the Republic,
and not made part of Rome until the first century BCE, Fortuna Primigenia was regarded
as a "foreign" Goddess by the somewhat xenophobic Romans, though they did come to
embrace Her in time.
As the "First-born" daughter of Jupiter, Fortuna Primigenia was believed to fix the new-
born child's destiny or fate. Her name could also be interpreted as "First-bearer", as in the
first to bear children; and She was depicted as suckling two infant children, who were said
to be Juno and Jupiter, i.e., the supreme female and male principles, symbolizing totality as
Mother and Father Deities. Naturally as a Goddess connected with childbirth, She was
especially favored by married women.
Her temple complex in Praeneste was built into the side of a great hill, and had several
levels of terraces and staircases, a basilica, and curia (meeting-hall), with the small circular
temple to Fortuna at the top. It was a huge complex, measuring 1300-plus feet at the base
of it and stretching vertically up the hillside for 450 feet, and it incorporated two reservoirs
which provided water for a great fountain as well as for the surrounding town. The ruins
today are very impressive, though a palace was built on the foundations in the Renaissance;
following the original layout, it kept the semicircular shape of the colonnade just below the
temple (alas, the temple itself has long since vanished), as is not uncommon of medieval or
Renaissance structures built over ancient sites, since it's easier to built on foundations that
are already there than to take them apart and start from scratch. On the oldest level, that
of the basilica, are two small caves or grottoes, the one to the west most likely being the
original shrine of Fortuna around which the complex was built. The temple of Fortuna
Primigenia was one of the largest in ancient Italy, if not the largest, and owing to its
spectacular situation on a hill, could be seen from all over Latium, even from as far away as
Rome.
The Oracle of Fortuna at Praeneste was of a fame to rival Delphi's, and was called the
sortes Praenestinae, or "the Praenestine lots". According to legend, one Numerius Suffustius
was told in a dream to delve into the stone at a certain spot in Praeneste. When he did just
that, he found some mysterious pieces of oak inscribed with sayings written in an archaic
alphabet. These tablets were then kept in a box and used at the oracle to Fortuna
established there: when the oracle was to be consulted, a young child went to the box and,
after shaking it, picked one of the tablets at random. He then gave it to the questioner, who
was left to interpret the meaning for him or herself. The Oracle at Praeneste remained
popular for centuries and was only closed down in the reign of the Christian Emperor
Theodosius in the 4th century CE.
Like Fors Fortuna, Fortuna Primigenia had several temples in Rome. One of these was on
the Capitoline Hill and was traditionally ascribed to Servius Tullius, an early King of Rome
who had been born a slave and risen to be King, and who had also built a temple to Fors
Fortuna by the Tiber. Three more temples to Fortuna gave their name to a neighborhood on
the Quirinal Hill, the tres Fortunae, located just by the gate of the porta Collina; one of
these temples was dedicated to Fortuna Publica, ("Fortuna of the People"), but the other
two were to Fortuna Primigenia. The largest of the three was given to Fortuna Publica
Populi Romani Quiritium Primigenia ("First-born Fortuna of the Roman Nation, its People
and Citizens"), Her name and titles as they were officially known in Rome, and dedicated in
194 BCE on May 25th, which thereafter became its festival day. The third temple, of which
there is not much known, had its festival day on November 13th.
Fortuna Primagenia's worship was originally centered in a grotto, a small cave (it is related
to the word crypt) of a type celebrated in Italy for being a cool and refreshing place out of
the sun; often water is found in grottoes. Fortuna's Praenestine grotto likely did have a
spring or other form of water in it, and it had been decorated with a great mosaic in its floor
that depicted the Greek Sea-God Poseidon, who was equated with the Roman Neptune,
originally a God of fresh waters. Caves are a symbol of the earth and the Earth-Mother;
they are additionally gateways to the Underworld, and connect the lands of the living and
dead, the lands of mortals and the Gods. Oracles are frequently found at sites that have
caves or springs or that otherwise connect to the interior of the earth through such features
as natural fissures or volcanic vents (as is the case at Delphi). Given this, Primordial
Fortune can be seen as an ancient chthonic Goddess, an Earth-Mother Who has the power
to give abundant good things from Her earthgold, silver, gems, plants, animals, a
bountiful harvest, success and good luckand Who can predict the future that She sets as a
Fate-Goddess Who controls the life, fortune, and death of all.

Fortuna Privata is the Goddess of the fortune or luck of the individual or family life, as
opposed to Fortuna Publica, Who was concerned with the fortunes of the state.
Fortuna Privata had a temple on the Palatine Hill in Rome, traditionally said to have been
built by Servius Tullius, the sixth King of Rome, more legendary than historical, who was
credited with founding many of Fortuna's temples in Rome. As he had been the son of a
slave, it is not surprising that the worship of Fortuna was linked with himfor She was the
Goddess who brought about changing circumstances and could even raise up a slave to
become King.
According to Plutarch, Fortuna was so dedicated to Servius that She was said to have been
his lover, and entered his room in the night through a small window in a gate. (Private
Fortune, indeed!) This particular gate was located at the beginning of the Sacra via, the
"Sacred Way", the oldest road in Rome: near to one of Fortuna's shrines, it was found not
too far from where the Arch of Titus stands at the entrance to the Forum today. In memory
of their assignations, this gate was called the Porta Fenestella, "the Gate of the Window".
However it's rather more likely that this small gate, which was not a part of the city walls,
was really a private entrance or back door of some sort, as one of the other meanings of
fenestella is "postern"; and I suspect the story was made up to explain the name of the gate,
not the other way around. At any rate, Servius was so associated with Fortuna's worship
that in other tales he was called Her son; by all accounts he certainly was what we'd call "a
child of fortune".
One would imagine that Fortuna Privata was given offerings within the home on a personal
basis, as that was Her sphere of influence, as well as more public offerings at Her temple on
the Palatine.

Fortuna Publica is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fate, and Chance, Fortuna. As
Fortuna Publica She ensures the luck of the populice or state, and is a complimentary idea
to Fortuna Privata, the Luck of the Individual.
Fortuna Publica was honored with temples on the Quirinal Hill in Rome in the
neighborhood named for them tres Fortunae, "the Three Fortunas". At least two of those
three temples were to Fortuna Publica; one was to Fortuna Primigenia, whose full title in
Rome was Fortuna Publicae Populi Romani, "the Luck of the Roman People"; another was
to Fortuna Publica Citerior (citerior meaning "nearer", probably because it was closer to the
center of the city); there is not much known of the third temple to Fortuna. Some identify it
as again belonging to Fortuna Primigenia, but it's possible that it too was dedicated to
Fortuna Publica. The first temple had as its festival date the 25th of May, and the one to
Fortuna Publica Citerior the 5th of April.
Fortuna Publica was sometimes known as Fortuna Populi Romani, the "Luck of the Roman
People"; under this name She had an altar way up on Hadrian's Wall, at the fort of
Vindolana, at the modern Chesterholm in Northumberland, England.

Fortuna Redux, one of the many aspects of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, was in
charge of bringing people home safely, primarily from warsredux means "coming back" or
"returning". She may be one of the later aspects of Fortuna, as the earliest mention of Her
is of an altar dedicated by the Senate in 19 BCE for the safe return of the Emperor
Augustus. This altar was located near the porta Capena, a gate in the old Servian wall not
far from the grove of the Camenae, and at this altar rites were performed by the priests and
Vestal Virgins during the Augustalia, games celebrated in honor of Augustus on his
birthday on October 12th. Though usually it is only temples that are known to have a
dedication date, this altar was considered special enough that its dedication date of the
15th of December was recorded.
She had a temple in Rome in the Campus Martius, a swampy area down by the Tiber
dedicated to Mars that had once been used for the assembly of soldiers. The temple to
Fortuna Redux there was built by the Emperor Domitian sometime around 93 CE after he
had safely returned home from a war in Germany.
Fortuna Redux may have started as a Goddess who primarily made sure the Emperor got
home alive, but it seems it was not long before She was invoked to bring others home safely,
especially soldiers, as one might expect. Several altars dedicated to Her have been found in
Brittania, the frontier of the Empire, especially in the area up by Hadrian's Wall, the very
northern limit of Rome's power. They commonly come from military bath-houses, and She is
sometimes mentioned along with Fortuna Salutaris ("Health-bringing Fortune") and
Fortuna Balnearis ("Fortuna of the Bath-House"). At the Roman fort of Cilurnum on
Hadrian's Wall (the modern Chesters, Northumbria, England), Fortuna Redux shared an
altar with Aesculapius, the God of Health (the Greek Asklepios); and Her company on these
altars imply that She was considered a Goddess who had healing powers, or who at least
had the power to preserve health and wholeness, so that Her worshippers would be able to
come home.
A related aspect of the Goddess of Chance, Fortuna Restitutrix, was also concerned with the
health and saftey of soldiers. Her title means "She Who Restores", which can also be
translated like Redux as "She Who Brings Back", and She was evidentally worshipped by
the military. An altar to Fortuna Restitutrix has been found in the Castra Praetoria, the
barracks of the Praetorian guard in Rome, built in the first century CE, about the time
Fortuna Redux seems to have come about. Her altar was in a room in the northern part of
the barracks set with a black and white mosaic floor.
Also called: Fortuna Reduci, "Fortune Returns"; She is depicted on coins with a wheel,
sometimes the emblem of Nemesis, Greek Goddess of retribution, law and justice.

Fortuna Respiciens ("Fortune Who Provides") is one aspect of the Roman Goddess of
Chance and Fate, Fortuna. She is that type of chance that provides what is needed to the
lucky, even though the odds may be against them. Her title can also be interpreted as
"Provident Fortune"; and in this we see the idea of divine assistance or intervention in
times of need. In his essay On the Fortune of the Romans, Plutarch says of Fortuna:
"whenever she busies herself and takes command, she provides from unexpected sources
against all emergencies by implanting intelligence in the unreasoning and senseless, and
prowess and daring in the craven."
Her temple in Rome was located somewhere on the Esquiline Hill; like many of Fortuna's
temples in Rome, its building was attributed to Servius Tullius, an early King of Rome and
devote of Fortuna. She had another shrine on the Palatine, and a street there that
presumably led to it or passed by it was known as the Vicus Fortunae Respicientis.
Fortuna Respiciens, though Roman, was also known by a couple of epithets in Greek:
Epistrephomen, "[She Who] Turns Around", probably referring to Her ability to change
bad luck to good; and Ouk Euaphgton, "Not Easy to Describe", perhaps meaning "the
Instrutable".

Fortuna Redux, one of the many aspects of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, was in
charge of bringing people home safely, primarily from warsredux means "coming back" or
"returning". She may be one of the later aspects of Fortuna, as the earliest mention of Her
is of an altar dedicated by the Senate in 19 BCE for the safe return of the Emperor
Augustus. This altar was located near the porta Capena, a gate in the old Servian wall not
far from the grove of the Camenae, and at this altar rites were performed by the priests and
Vestal Virgins during the Augustalia, games celebrated in honor of Augustus on his
birthday on October 12th. Though usually it is only temples that are known to have a
dedication date, this altar was considered special enough that its dedication date of the
15th of December was recorded.
She had a temple in Rome in the Campus Martius, a swampy area down by the Tiber
dedicated to Mars that had once been used for the assembly of soldiers. The temple to
Fortuna Redux there was built by the Emperor Domitian sometime around 93 CE after he
had safely returned home from a war in Germany.
Fortuna Redux may have started as a Goddess who primarily made sure the Emperor got
home alive, but it seems it was not long before She was invoked to bring others home safely,
especially soldiers, as one might expect. Several altars dedicated to Her have been found in
Brittania, the frontier of the Empire, especially in the area up by Hadrian's Wall, the very
northern limit of Rome's power. They commonly come from military bath-houses, and She is
sometimes mentioned along with Fortuna Salutaris ("Health-bringing Fortune") and
Fortuna Balnearis ("Fortuna of the Bath-House"). At the Roman fort of Cilurnum on
Hadrian's Wall (the modern Chesters, Northumbria, England), Fortuna Redux shared an
altar with Aesculapius, the God of Health (the Greek Asklepios); and Her company on these
altars imply that She was considered a Goddess who had healing powers, or who at least
had the power to preserve health and wholeness, so that Her worshippers would be able to
come home.
A related aspect of the Goddess of Chance, Fortuna Restitutrix, was also concerned with the
health and saftey of soldiers. Her title means "She Who Restores", which can also be
translated like Redux as "She Who Brings Back", and She was evidentally worshipped by
the military. An altar to Fortuna Restitutrix has been found in the Castra Praetoria, the
barracks of the Praetorian guard in Rome, built in the first century CE, about the time
Fortuna Redux seems to have come about. Her altar was in a room in the northern part of
the barracks set with a black and white mosaic floor.
Also called: Fortuna Reduci, "Fortune Returns"; She is depicted on coins with a wheel,
sometimes the emblem of Nemesis, Greek Goddess of retribution, law and justice.

Fortuna Romana ("The Luck of Rome"), also called Fortuna Populi Romani ("Fortune of the
Roman People"), is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck and Fate Who specifically
watches over and provides for the city of Rome and its people. As patron Deity of Rome, She
was considered the guardian spirit, or juno (equivalent to the male genius) of that city. Her
worship in Rome comes at a time when Fortuna's Greek equivalant, Tykhe, was being used
in the eastern stretches of the Empire as a guardian Goddess of cities.
The 4th century CE Emperor Constantine had a temple to the Goddess Fortuna built in his
new city of Constantinople (now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople, been a long time gone),
even though by that time he had already converted to Christianity! This temple was
complete with a grand statue of the Goddess as Fortuna Romana. He had moved the capital
of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, and it may be that he felt it ritually
necessary to bring the protective Deity of the Empire with him to Her new capital, so that
Her Luck would follow him there.
On one coin of Constantine is an image of the Genio Populi Romani, the (male) guardian
spirit or genius of the Roman people. Like Fortuna, He holds a cornucopia or horn of plenty.
He is probably to be associated with the Emperor himself as guardian of the state.
The Goddess Roma is closely connected to Fortuna Romana, as She was also first
worshipped as the spirit of the city of Rome, and in Imperial times became the city itself
personified.

Fortuna Salutaris is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, as a Health or
Healing Goddess. She is associated with Fortuna Balnearis, Fortuna of the Bath-Houses,
and the two were often found mentioned on altars in the baths of military outposts on the
frontiers of the Roman Empire. In these places Roman soldiers were a long way from home,
surrounded by alien tribes who were probably regarded by the Romans as rather
uncivilized; and they seem, not unsurprisingly, to have been especially concerned with their
own well-being and health, and whether they would ever make it home again.
Salutaris can also mean "She Who Wishes Well", or "Of Salvation", and it is probable that
the soldiers looked to Fortuna as a Goddess who could protect them in these distant lands,
and as one who could save them from the hostility of the locals.

business ventures.
with sea-voyages.
happiness.

Fortuna Virgo is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, who watched over new
brides and brought them luck in their marriages. Her title means "Fortune the Virgin", or
"Fortuna of Marriageable Age", and young women would dedicate their robes to Her at
their marriages. As Fortuna was the Goddess of chance, which tends to present itself at
times of change, Fortuna Virgo was invoked to make the transition from one stage of life to
the next go smoothly and well.
Her festival date was June 11th, the same day as the Matralia, the holiday to Mater
Matuta, Goddess of growth and childbirth. The Matralia was celebrated by mothers and
had rites to do with childbirth and bringing up children; Fortuna Virgo's festival on this day
was a way to connect new brides to their perceived duties of becoming good mothers. Mater
Matuta and Fortuna were also linked in that the two Goddesses had adjacent temples in
the Forum Boarium down by the Tiber, both said to have been built by Servius Tullius (is
there a temple to Fortuna in Rome that he didn't build?), and both dedicated on June 11th.
Fortuna Virgo is said to have had Her own specific temple in Rome; it has been tentatively
identified with this one in the Forum Boarium.
Also called: Fortuna Virginalis

Fortuna Virilis is one of the many aspects of the Roman Goddess of Luck and Chance,
Fortuna. Her title means "Manly" or "Virile", and it can be supposed that She made boys
into men by making them strong and robust, and watching over them through the
difficulties of puberty. She was connected with the Love-Goddess Venus (who also "makes
boys into men", albeit in a rather different way), and She was worshipped with Venus at
the festival of the Veneralia.
The Veneralia was a holiday of Venus Verticordia ("Venus the Changer of Hearts") held on
April the 1st, the date of the founding of Her temple on the Aventine Hill, in which rites to
Fortuna Virilis seem to have played a part. Perhaps the two taken together were meant to
inspire and protect young men as they began to take an interest in sex and/or girls as they
grew; and further evidence of a link between the two Goddesses is found in the fact that a
shrine of Fortuna Virilis was located besides an altar to Venus of the Basket, though
exactly where in Rome they were located is unknown.
Fortuna Virilis also had a temple in Rome, said to have been built, once again, by the early
Roman King Servius Tullius, who was so famously devoted to Fortuna that there is a
legend they were lovers. There is some confusion as to where this temple stoodit has been
identified with that of Mater Matuta in the Forum Boarium, which is most likely incorrect.
In the present-day Forum Boarium stands a nicely proportioned little temple that was also
once believed to belong to Fortuna Virilis. This temple dates from late Republican times
and is an excellent state of preservation (it even has a roof on it, fer cryin' out loud) because
it was converted to a church in the 9th century CE. This identification, however, is thought
to be incorrect as well, and the little temple is now generally identified with Portumnus, the
God of Doors and Harbours.
Fortuna Virilis, though "Manly Luck", was also said to ensure that women were happily
married. It was said that matrons prayed to Her to preserve their beauty so that they might
continue to please their husbands; but perhaps Her worship among women also reflects
that a woman's ability to have children (the duty and supposed dream of every good matron
of Rome) was dependant on her husband's virility.
Like Fortuna Respiciens, Fortuna Virilis could be known under a Greek title, in which case
She was Tykhe Arrn, meaning the same thing, "Manly Fortune".

Fortuna Viscata is one of the odder aspects of the Roman Luck-Goddess Fortuna. Her title,
Viscata, means "glue", specifically bird-lime, a sticky substance made from the bark of the
holly tree (or from mistletoe) that was used to catch birds; it was smeared on perches or
twigs and the birds, upon landing, would stick fast. (Viscata is related to our English word
"viscous", meaning "sticky" or "of a thick fluid texture".) Viscata in Fortuna's case is usually
taken to mean "Fortuna the Fowler", referring to the type of hunter who ensnares fowl. She
was evidentially considered important enough to warrant a shrine or temple in the city of
Rome, which like so many others belonging to Fortuna was credited to the early Roman
King Servius Tullius. This shrine may have been on the Palatine hill; however all evidence
of it is now lost.
Though Plutarch, a writer of Greek birth active in the 1st century CE, calls Viscata "a
ridiculous name", he explains that perhaps the name is a metaphor for Fortune's ability to
catch and hold people in Her net of fate from afar. So, then, as "Sticky Fortune" She is the
one who entangles and fixes mankind in the circumstances of Fate, from which there is
little hope of escape.
An alternate and rather happier interpretation sees Fortuna Viscata as the Goddess Who
entices or brings good things from afar and fixes them permanently in an individual's life,
and Who makes prosperity stick around.
She was called in the Greek Tykhe Ixeuteria "Fortune Who is Like Bird-Lime"; this epithet
is defined as being the equivalent of aucupium, "Fowler", though another definition of
aucupium is "eavesdropper".
Also called: Fortuna Aucupium


Fortuna of Good Hope is an aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck and Fortune who is
mentioned by Plutarch, a Greek writer of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE who was familiar
with Rome and her Deities. He mentions that She had a shrine on the Vicus Longus ("Long
Street") also called the Angiportus Longus ("Long Alley or Narrow Street"), the road that
ran along the valley between the Quirinal and Viminal Hills; on this street were also
located shrines to Febris, Goddess of Fevers, and an altar to Pudicita Plebeia ("Modesty of
the Plebeians"). This shrine to Fortuna, like many others, was considered to have been built
by Servius Tullius, the early King of Rome whose rags-to-riches story made him a devote
of Fortuna, for he had been born a slave and risen to be King.
Fortuna as a Goddess of Hope was connected to the personification of Hope, the Goddess
Spes, and the two Goddesses were depicted together on coins of the Emperor Hadrian, who
reigned in the 2nd century CE. This coin was issued upon the adoption of one Aelius Verus
by the childless Hadrian, and refers to the fortune he hoped would be the Empire's because
of his new heir. As his chosen successor, Aelius Verus was never Emperor, though, for he
died before Hadrian did.
Also called: Fortuna, Giver of Good Hope.
Called in Greek (by Plutarch, who was a Greek by birth): Tykh Euelpidos "Hopeful
Fortuna" or "Fortuna the Cheerful". I could not find the proper translation of Her epithet in
Latin; but then the original text of Plutarch is in Greek, and the Roman version may never
have been recorded.
http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/roman.html

"tenebras in lucem"

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