Fortuna Bona, literally "Good Fortune" is a benevolent
aspect of the Roman Goddess of Luck and Chance, Fortuna. The Latin word bona,
usually translated simply as "good", has connotations of honesty,
morality and bravery, and can also mean "good things", "profit",
or "wealth", all of which deepen the richness of what Fortuna Bona
can bring. She was considered the wife, sister, or cult-partner of the God Bonus
Eventus (whose name means "Successful Outcome") Who was also a Deity
of success and luck. He was likely a Harvest-God originally, who brought prosperity
and abundance to the populace, and like Fortuna, He was very popular with the
people.
Fortuna Bona had two temples in Rome, one in the Forum Boarium,
the supposed "Cattle Market" of Rome, on a flat spot down by the Tiber
River, which was said to have been built by Servius Tullius; it may be the same
temple mentioned in the Fortuna index page as being
near to that of the Goddess Mater Matuta. The
second temple was said to have been built by the youngest of the Marcus Aemilius
Lepiduses, the one who was in the triumvirate with Antony and Octavian (later
the Emperor Augustus), and was built in honor of Julius Caesar (whose luck wouldn't
hold). It was located in the Curia Hostilia, the earliest of the Senate-houses
of Rome, which burnt down in 52 BCE.
Fortuna Bona was often mentioned in the same breath as Fortuna
Mala, "Bad Fortune", as each having temples in Rome, and though
they were separate, it seems the two were alter egos. They could also be stamped
on coins, and were sometimes depicted together as two opposite and balancing
aspects of Chance.
Also called: Bona Fortuna