b) Mercurius and Fortuna

A stele* from Glanum (Bouches-du-Rhône) represents a goddess with a huge cornucopia* and a rudder surmounting a sphere, partnering a Mercurius with purse, petasus*, caduceus*, tortoise and goat. Contrary to what Green asserts, this goddess is clearly not Rosmerta, but Fortuna.912 Fortuna is a Roman goddess who personifies Fate and its unknown factors.913 She distinguishes herself by characteristic attributes of her own, such as the rudder, the globe or sphere, the wheel and the bow. Many a relief* from Mayence, Grand, Châtelet, etc, depict her.914 She is sometimes crowned and winged, standing or sitting. In Gaul, she is mentioned in about thirty dedications, generally made by soldiers.915 In addition to Mercurius, she is sometimes associated with healing deities, notably in Germania Superior, or with the Matronae, especially in Germania Inferior.

Notes
912.

Salviat, 1979, p. 49 ; Green, 1995, pp. 126-127 ; Green, 2001, pp. 59-60, fig. 23 ; Webster, 1986, p. 58. It is in the Musée des Alpilles, St-Rémy-de-Provence.

913.

Guirand & Schmidt, 2006, pp. 259-260 ; Brill’s, vol. 5, pp. 506-507.

914.

RG 5727, 5746, 5752, 5757, 5766, 5887 (Mayence), 7526 (Châtelet), 4899, 4903 (Grand), etc.

915.

See the list by Hatt, MDG 2, pp. 112, 173, 178-179, 182, 187, 196-199, 208-209.