Felicitas

The personification of happiness, to whom a temple was erected by Lucullus in 75 BCE, which, however, was burnt down in the reign of Claudius. The Greeks worshiped the same personification, under the name of Εὐτυχία, who is frequently represented in works of art.

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Iconography

Felicitas is frequently seen on Roman coins, in the form of a matron, with the staff of Mercury (caduceus) and a cornucopia. Sometimes also she has other attributes, according to the kind of happiness she represents.1

References

Notes

  1. Lindner. (1770). De Felicitate Dea ex Numis illustrata. Arnstadt; Rasche, J. C. Lexicon Universae Rei Numariae Veterum Et Praecipue Graecorum Ac Romanorum ii, 1, p. 956.

Sources

  • Augustine. City of God iv, 18, 23; comp. Cicero. Against Verres iv, 2, 57.
  • Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia xxxiv, 8.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.