Fortune. Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at least the Renaissance.
Fortuna is often depicted with a gubernaculum, a ball or Rota Fortunae and a cornucopia. She might bring good or bad luck: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Lady Justice, except that Fortuna does not hold a balance.
Fortuna 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.
Fortuna's father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful. As Annonaria she protected grain supplies.
June 11 was consecrated to her: on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of Fors Fortuna. Fortuna's name seems to derive from Vortumna. Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was introduced to Rome by Servius Tullius or Ancus Marcius. The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber. The first temple dedicated to Fortuna 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. The date of dedication of he
Fortuna is often depicted with a gubernaculum, a ball or Rota Fortunae and a cornucopia. She might bring good or bad luck: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Lady Justice, except that Fortuna does not hold a balance.
Fortuna 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.
Fortuna's father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful. As Annonaria she protected grain supplies.
June 11 was consecrated to her: on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of Fors Fortuna. Fortuna's name seems to derive from Vortumna. Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was introduced to Rome by Servius Tullius or Ancus Marcius. The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber. The first temple dedicated to Fortuna 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. The date of dedication of he
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