Fors Fortuna (Latin: Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) was the goddess of fortune and personification of luck in Roman religion. She might bring good luck or bad. June 24th was sacred to her. The festival of Fors Fortuna on June this date was celebrated with a pilgrimage to Her temple(s) that proceeded along the Tiber, both on the banks of the river and in the river itself on boats and barges which were decorated for the day. It was a festival of much mirth and joy, and much wine-drinking. It may also have been traditional to play games of chance or place bets at Her parties, for She was the Goddess who brought luck in gambling as well.Fors Fortuna had several temples in Rome, though exactly how many and where is rather hard to pin down as the written sources can be contradictory. One, said to have been built by either Ancus Marcius or Servius Tullius (in some tales the son of a slave-woman), both early Kings of Rome, was built on the right (north) bank of the Tiber. Its festival date, which usually commemorates a temple's founding.
Fors Fortuna represents Fortune in the classic sense as Goddess of luck or chance, who was acknowledged as sometimes being fickle or wanton. However She was especially worshiped by slaves and the common people, as the Goddess who could bring about rags-to-riches transformations, and at least two of Her temples were founded by former slaves in gratitude for their changed luck. At her temples Fors Fortuna was given votive offerings by worshipers, in the hopes that their prayers for good luck would be answered; and many small offerings to Her of bronze have been found in the area of Her temples.
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