A Godless Goddess

This chapter studies the negative meanings attributed to Fortuna, related to instability and bad luck. These meanings have always been attributed to the deity, and are attested already from the earliest pieces of evidence. It is argued that after the connection between Fortuna and the conquest of the Empire was made in the second century BC, there was a strong tendency to minimalize and marginalize these negative associations of the deity. However, this changes with the increasing political instability of late Republican Rome, and with the war between Caesar and Pompey in particular. If Fortuna helped to conquer the Empire, on whose side was she during the civil conflicts? The new sociopolitical circumstances favoured the increasing attribution of negative meanings to Fortuna, with some authors openly questioning her divine status.