Cultus Fortunae
IN·MEMORIAM·A·TVLLIAE·SCHOLASTICAE·AVGVSTAE·PRINCIPIS·SENATVS·CENSORIS·IIII·CONSVLIS·II·PRAETRICIS
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Fortuna, the goddess of good luck, has been worshipped from remote antiquity in Italy. Her worship was supposed to have been introduced into Rome by king Servius Tullius, popularly believed to be her favourite and confidant. He was said to have founded her oldest sanctuaries, as, for instance, that of Fors Fortuna, or lucky chance, on the right bank of the Tiber below Rome. To this a pilgrimage was made down the stream by laud and water on the anniversary of its foundation (June 26).
As time went on, the worship of Fortuna became one of the most popular in Italy. She was worshipped at a great number of shrines under various titles, given according to various circumstances of life in which her influence was supposed to have effect. Among there titles were Fortuna Primagenia, who determines the destiny of the child at its birth and Fortuna Publica or Populi Romani, the tutelary goddess of the state.
Trajan at last founded a special temple in honour of Fortuna as the all-pervading power of the world. Here an annual sacrifice was offered to her on New Year's Day. In works of art she was represented with the same attributes as the Greek Tyche.
Fortuna was a favourite with soldiers. More than a dozen altars to her have been found in Britain, on which she is addressed simply as Fortuna, or as Fortuna Conservatorix and Fortuna Redux; while on one at Chesterholm she appears as Fortuna Populi Romani, the tutelary goddess of the Roman people.
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Plutarch, On the Fortune of the Romans
[S]wift is the pace of Fortune, bold is her spirit, and most vaunting her hopes; she outstrips Virtue and is close at hand. She does not raise herself in the air on light pinions, nor advance "poised on tip-toe above a globe," in precarious and hesitant posture, and then depart from sight. But even as the Spartans say that Aphroditê, as she crossed the Eurotas, put aside her mirrors and ornaments and her magic girdle, and took a spear and shield, adorning herself to please Lycurgus, even so Fortuna, ... when she was approaching the Palatine and crossing the Tiber, it appears that she took off her wings, stepped out of her sandals, and abandoned her untrustworthy and unstable globe. Thus did she enter Rome, as with intent to abide, and in such guise is she present to‑day...
Attributes
Fortuna is often shown holding a cornucopia and a ship's rudder.
See Also
- Fortuna Populi Romani Quiritium Primagenia Article about Fortuna Populi Romani Quiritium Primagenia.
- Aedes Fortunae Huiusce Diei Article about archeological remains in Rome.
- Aedes Fortunae Populi Romani Quiritium Primagenia (Nova Roma) Nova Roma online Temple to Fortuna Populi Romani Quiritium Primagenia.
