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fortuna

Fortuna is a Latin word meaning fortune or luck. In ancient Rome, Fortuna was the personification of luck and fate, a goddess worshipped as one who could determine prosperity or misfortune. She was associated with chance in both everyday life and state affairs. The cult of Fortuna included temples and oracular practices, most famously Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste (modern Palestrina), dating to the late Republic and early Empire; the temple complex housed a significant statue and a sanctuary that integrated religious and political life. Fortuna was sometimes depicted with a rudder, a cornucopia, or a wheel—the Wheel of Fortune—symbolizing the changing fortunes of humanity. The phrase "Fortuna audaces iuvat" (Fortune favors the bold) reflects a common moral about risk and success.

In literature and philosophy, Fortuna appears as a central concept in discussions of fate, chance, and human

In modern usage, Fortuna survives as a proper name and in toponyms, and there is also an

agency.
Roman
poets
and
later
medieval
writers
used
Fortuna
to
address
how
luck
influences
outcomes.
The
concept
endured
in
medieval
and
Renaissance
symbolism
and
in
modern
languages
as
a
figure
of
luck.
asteroid
named
Fortuna.
The
term
continues
to
appear
in
expressions
and
in
art
and
media
as
a
reference
to
luck
and
fate.