The Goddess Fortuna in Imperial Rome: Cult, Art, Text - University of ...

Fortuna Augusta are common in the African provinces as well, for the well-being
of the emperor and the imperial family as well as private vows. 1079
Women as Fortuna: empresses, non-elites, and the role of Fortuna in death
Empresses frequently appeared in statuary and coinage as Roman
goddesses. 1080 Fortuna was no exception. Although the identification of
members of the imperial family in the guise of Fortuna is not guaranteed by a
cornucopia or mural crown alone, 1081 the two most frequently-identifiable
empresses as Fortuna are Faustina the Younger, and Julia Domna, of the Antonine
and Severan periods, respectively, coinciding with the contemporary proliferation
of Fortuna in inscriptions and on historical reliefs in Rome. 1082
The main reason for the empresses’ appearance as Fortuna and appeal to
Fortuna directly lies in the unique role that Fortuna cult held in Rome. Her
venerable cults, including those of Fortuna Muliebris and Virilis, were among the
1079 Kajanto (1988) passim, Pensabene (1992) passim.
1080 Wrede (1981). Matheson (1996) 182-193, Mikocki (1995), both reviewed by D’Ambra
(1998) 546-553.
1081 D’Ambra (1998) 546-553 discusses some of the shortcomings of Mikocki’s identifications.
An inscription or rudder, globe, and wheel are more certain attributes of Fortuna than a sole
cornucopia or mural crown. Uncertain images of Fortuna include the Fortuna/ Oikoumene figure
crowning Augustus on the Gemma Augustea: Kleiner (1992) 69-72 with bibliography. Another
questionable Fortuna figure is located on one of the Sebasteion relief panels: Zanker (1988a) 301
fig. 235, Kleiner (1992) 158-161. Ironically, after Nero’s failed attempt to kill his mother,
Agrippina Minor, she remarked to him that his Fortuna saved her from death: benignitate deum et
Fortuna eius (Tac., Ann. 14.6).
1082 Mikocki (1995) 98-100.
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