Tyche the Greek Goddess of Luck
and Fortuna & Felicitas the Roman Goddesses of Luck on Ancient Coins to
Buy
Buy Tyche the Greek Goddess of Luck
and Fortuna & Felicitas the Roman Goddesses of Luck ancient coins
from a trusted ancient coin dealer. Tyche was the presiding tutelary
deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny.
Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own
specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown. All coins you
purchase from the store are professionally researched, photographed and
provided with a lifetime guarantee of authenticity.
Tyche (pronounced Too-kee; Greek for luck; the Roman
equivalent was Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed
the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during
the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of
Tyche, wearing a mural crown (a crown like the walls of the city).
In
Roman mythology,
Fortuna (equivalent to the
Greek goddess
Tyche) goddess of fortune, was the
personification of
luck; hopefully she brought good luck,
but she could be represented veiled and blind, as modern depictions of
Justice are seen, and came to represent
the capriciousness of life. Atrox Fortuna claimed the lives of
Augustus' two hopeful grandsons,
educated to take up princely roles, for she was also a goddess of
fate. Her father was Jupiter, and
though she had no lovers or children of her own, Fortuna was propitiated
by mothers.
Fortuna had a retinue that included
Copia, "bounty", among her
blessings. Under the name Annonaria she protected grain supplies.
In the Roman calendar, June 11 was sacred to Fortuna, with a greater
festival to Fors Fortuna on the 24th.
Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was
introduced to Rome by
Servius Tullius. or
Ancus Marcius. Fortuna had a temple in
the
Forum Boarium and a public sanctuary on
the
Quirinalis, as the tutelary genius of
Roma herself, Fortuna Populi Romani,
the "Fortune of the Roman people", for Fortuna, the embodiment of the
chaotic chance event as modern historians would see it, was closely tied
by the Romans to
virtus, strength of character;
flaws in the main public actors brought on the calamities of ill
fortune, as Roman historians like
Sallust saw her role: "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".
In
Roman mythology, Felicitas
(meaning "good luck" or "fortune") was the goddess or personification of
good luck and success. The word felicitas, "luck", is also the
source of the word and name felicity. She played an important
role in
Rome's state religion during the
empire, and was frequently portrayed on
coins. She became a prominent symbol of
the wealth and prosperity of the
Roman Empire.
Felicitas was unknown before the mid-2nd century BC,
when a temple was dedicated to her in the
Velabrum in the
Campus Martius by
Lucius Licinius Lucullus, using booty
from his 151150 BC campaign in Spain. The temple was destroyed by a
fire during the reign of
Claudius and was never rebuilt.
Another temple in
Romeome was planned by
Julius Caesar and was erected after his
death by
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus on the site of
the
Curia Hostilia, which had been restored
by
Lucius Cornelius Sulla but demolished
by Caesar in 44 BC. This temple no longer existed by the time of
Hadrian, and its site probably lies
under the church of
Santi Martina e Luca.
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