5/12/2023 0 Comments Felicitas by Janusz A. ZajdelPhallic relief with the inscription "Felicitas dwells here" The English word "felicity" derives from felicitas. Her primary attributes are the caduceus and cornucopia. Felicitas continued to play an important role in Imperial cult, and was frequently portrayed on coins as a symbol of the wealth and prosperity of the Roman Empire. She appears with several epithets that focus on aspects of her divine power.įelicitas had a temple in Rome as early as the mid-2nd century BC, and during the Republican era was honored at two official festivals of Roman state religion, on July 1 in conjunction with Juno and October 9 as Fausta Felicitas. Felicitas, however, always had a positive significance. Fortuna was unpredictable and her effects could be negative, as the existence of an altar to Mala Fortuna ("Bad Luck") acknowledges. Although felicitas may be translated as "good luck," and the goddess Felicitas shares some characteristics and attributes with Fortuna, the two were distinguished in Roman religion. The divine personification of Felicitas was cultivated as a goddess. Felicitas could encompass both a woman's fertility and a general's luck or good fortune. In ancient Roman culture, felicitas (from the Latin adjective felix, "fruitful, blessed, happy, lucky") is a condition of divinely inspired productivity, blessedness, or happiness. Felicitas Augusta holding a caduceus and a cornucopia, two symbols of health and wealth, on the reverse of an aureus issued under the emperor Valerian
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