FORTUNA

Fortuna was a daughter and nurse of Jupiter, in charge of fate (or luck), both good and bad. Somewhere between a goddess and a personification, anyone with either very good or very bad luck was said to have his or her own Fortuna. Because of her importance, each Roman emperor slept with a golden statue of her in his quarters.

Images of Fortuna on coins are common, as are her bronze and terra-cotta figures. Her symbols are the wheel (of fate), sphere, ship's rudder and prow, cornucopia. In the Eastern Empire she was associated with Isis, and shown wearing Isis' headdress.

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