Dear friends of ancient Mythology! I will start with a rather rare provincial coin of Elagabal from Nicopolis ad Istrum, showing a Felicitas in her standard representation with caduceus and patera. The coin: Moesia inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Elagabal, 218-222. AE 27, 12.64g, 26.78mm, 0° stuck under governor Novius Rufus Obv:: AVT K M AVPH - ANTΩNEINOC Bust, draped and cuirassed seen from behind, laureate, r. Rev.: VΠ NOBIOV POVΦOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠP / OC IC Felicitas in long robe and mantle, standing frontal, head l., resting with raised l. hand on long kerykeion and holding patera in right hand. Ref.: a) not in AMNG: cf. AMNG I/1, 1970 (has laureate head) Rev. pl. XIX, 3 (1 ex., London, same die) b) not in Varbanov: cf. 3897 (= AMNG 1970), as Eutychea! c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2013) No. 8.26.3.4 var. (other obv. die: e.g. No. 8.26.38.8) VF, nice shiny dark green patina Felicitas is the Roman goddess of fertility and happy success. Originally, felix referred only to fertility. Fruit-bearing trees were called felices. In Ovid, felix is as much as child-bearing. Etymologically, felix is derived from dha (= to bear fruit), as are femina or fecundus. Later its meaning shifted more to the more general meaning of happy success. It is to be distinguished from the fleeting Fortuna, to whom it is opposed as permanent bliss. The personification of Felicitas as a goddess seems to have occurred rather later. Nevertheless, her original meaning has not been forgotten. This is proven on the one hand by an inscription on the wall of a bakery in Pompeji "Hic habitat Felicitas" (= "Here dwells happiness"), but also by symbols attached to her on coins. A temple was first erected for her by C. Licinius Lucullus because of his fortunate campaigns in Spain in the years 151 and 150 BC, and in front of the same he erected image columns, statues of Praxiteles, which Mummius had dragged away from Thespiä (Strabo, who here translates Felicitas with Eytychia). In any case, the dedication took place shortly after 146 BC. The delivery of a statue of Felicitas was entrusted to Arkesilaos by L. Licinius Lucullus, grandson of the founder of the temple, who was to receive 6000000 sesterces for it. But since both died, this statue was no longer executed (Pliny). According to Dio Cassius, the axle of Caesar's triumphal chariot broke in front of this temple, and since Suetonius mentions that this happened when Caesar was driving at the Velabrum, the location of this temple can thus be determined precisely. This temple burnt down under Claudius. Perhaps to avert the bad foreshadowing of this event, Caesar had a second temple built to Felicitas in 44 BC on the site of the Curia Hostilia, which had been renovated by Sulla and his son Faustus, but it was not completed until M. Aemilius Lepidus. According to a fragment, there was a sacrificial site of the goddess on the Field of Mars, which could be identical to the one where she was sacrificed on 12 August together with Venus victrix, Honos and Virtus. In any case, this refers to the theatre of Pompeius, which he had built as the first stone building in his 2nd Consulate, but had it dedicated as a temple in order to avoid conflicts with the Senate. Probably the veneration of Felicitas had already increased considerably, especially by Sulla, who called himself Felix and his patron goddess Venus Felix. Koch (RE) considers a sacrificial community of Felicitas with Venus Victrix already possible since Sulla. With the waning of faith in the old gods, the cult of Felicitas seems to have expanded in imperial times. Thus Tiberius ordered a sacrifice to be made to her and the numen Augusti on 17 January. Because of Tiberius' descent from Fundi, a statue of Felicitas was erected there and a supplicatio established (Suetonius). The sacrifice offered was always a cow. In inscriptions she followed either immediately after Iuppiter, Iuno, Minerva, or, if the Salus publica is especially mentioned, after this. Otherwise Felicitas herself is usually given the suffix publica. Other additions are Augusta, Perpetua, Italica, rei publicae, populi Romani, Romanorum, saeculi, temporum, imperatorum, Caesarum, and even deorum. In the decisive battle of Thapsus, the slogan "Felicitas" was given to Caesar's troops (Bell. Afr.). Most images of Felicitas are found on coins. According to an antecedent in a quinarius of Lollius Palicanus, mint master under Caesar's dictatorship, Felicitas often appears as the embodiment of the blessings owed to the Emperor. Commodus first included felix in the official imperial titulary in 185 AD. She is depicted sitting or standing, often leaning on a column and thus resembling the Securitas, as here on a Volusian sestertius. Volusian, RIC 251 As attributes she has the caduceus and the cornucopia, the bowl and sometimes a spear, but also a basket with ears of corn or a ship, which is supposed to indicate the secure supply of grain on which Rome depended. Elagabal, RIC 188 Otherwise, only a few personifications are found in poets and on inscriptions. Obscene reinterpretations (Felicitas as erotic happiness) seem to be indicated by an advertising plaque from Pompeji (Pauly). "Hic habitat felicitas" (= "Here dwells happiness"). Copy from the Bible open Museum in Nijmegen. The original was found on the outside of a bakery (not a brothel!) in Pompeii and is now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, called "Gabinetto segrteo" in the erotic collection by the Bourbons. Notes: (1) Velabrum: The marshy area between the Palatine and the Capitol. Place of high mythological importance. Remus and Romulus were found here. Later drained by the Cloaca maxima, it served among other things as a market. (2) Curia Hostilia: In the Roman Republic, the meeting place of the Senate on the Forum. Later replaced by Julius Caesar with the Curia Julia. (4) supplicatio: Religious ceremony appointed by the state. A distinction was made between supplications and thanksgiving supplications. Sources: (1) Plinius, Naturalis Historia (2) Caesar, Bellum Africum (3) Strabo, Geographika (4) Cassius Dio, Roman history (5) Sueton, Vitae Caesarum (6) Ovid, Fasti Literature: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisxhes Lexikon, Leipzig 1770 (online too) (2) Wilhelm-Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (online too) (3) Der Kleine Pauly (4) Paulys Realencyklopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE) Online Sources: (1) Wikipedia Best regards Jochen
