The cult of goddess fortuna in the roman central Balkans

Abstract

The cult of the goddess Fortuna has been attested on the territory of Roman provinces in the Central Balkans with numerous votive monuments, sculptures, votive reliefs, statuettes and on glyptics. The goddess was particularly popular among the army, but also venerated by administrative personnel, merchants, freedmen, slaves and women. The epithets of the goddess imply that she was honoured by her devotees as in other Roman provinces – mainly as the goddess of good luck and chance, but also as the protectress of transport, business, routes and perhaps in bathing facilities. Fortuna was usually worshipped alone, but her pairing with the Egyptian goddess Isis as the syncretistic deity Isis-Fortuna and her relationship with Genii, are confirmed in different Central Balkans localities. The goddess Fortuna’s sanctuaries can be presumed in the vicinity of Ulpiana, Niš, near Kumanovo and probably in Viminacium, while her cult lasted from the 2nd to the last decades of the 3rd century.