Fortune
Role: goddess · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 20
At Pharæ, Bupalus made the first known statue of Fortune. Pindar subsequently wrote lines about her and named her City-Preserver. In the account of her family, Fortune is described as a daughter of Oceanus and among his daughters who played with Proserpine: Leucippe, Phæno, Electra (daughter of Oceanus), Ianthe, Melobosis, and Ocyroe.
At the temple of Fortune, Xenophon made the hands and face of her statue carrying Wealth, while Callistonicus made the other parts. Elsewhere, Fortune is associated with Palamedes, who dedicated his dice to a temple, and with Sosipolis, honoured beside her; a statue of her with the horn of Amalthea stood near a winged Cupid.
Relationship record
Life events
- Bupalus made the first known statue of Fortune.(Book 4 · Chapter 30 · 📍 Pharæ)
- With: Bupalus
- “But Bupalus, a man of wonderful ability in building temples and making models of animals, is the first person we know of that made a statue of Fortune.”
- Pindar wrote lines about Fortune and named her City-Preserver.(Book 4 · Chapter 30)
- With: Pindar
- “Pindar also subsequently wrote various lines about Fortune, and named her City-Preserver.”
- Xenophon and Callistonicus created the statue of Fortune carrying Wealth.(Book 9 · Chapter 16 · 📍 temple of Fortune)
- With: Xenophon Callistonicus Wealth
- “Xenophon the Athenian made the hands and face of the statue, and Callistonicus a native of Thebes all the other parts”
Book 2 · Chapter 20
- with Palamedes (The temple immediately referred to is the temple of Fortune.) “since Palamedes the inventor of dice made a votive offering of his dice to this temple.”
Book 4 · Chapter 30
- parent: Oceanus “Fortune, also a daughter of Oceanus”
- with Bupalus (interaction) “Bupalus, a man of wonderful ability in building temples and making models of animals, is the first person we know of that made a statue of Fortune”
- with Pindar (interaction) “Pindar also subsequently wrote various lines about Fortune, and named her City-Preserver”
- siblings with Leucippe “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- siblings with Phæno “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- siblings with Electra (daughter of Oceanus) “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- siblings with Ianthe “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- siblings with Melobosis “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- siblings with Ocyroe “We all were in the pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.”
- friends with Proserpine “how they played with Demeter’s daughter Proserpine”
Book 4 · Chapter 31
- with Damophon (The preceding sentence lists a statue of Fortune among the statues made by Damophon.) “Those in stone are the work of Damophon, the only Messenian statuary that I know of that has produced any remarkable statues. The effigy of Epaminondas in iron is by another hand.”
Book 6 · Chapter 25
- with Sosipolis (Sosipolis is honored beside Fortune.) “Here too Sosipolis is honoured on the left of Fortune, in a rather small shrine”
- with Sosipolis (Sosipolis is honoured beside Fortune.) “Here too Sosipolis is honoured on the left of Fortune, in a rather small shrine: represented, according to the appearance of him seen in a dream, as a boy with a particoloured cloak on covered with stars, and in one of his hands the horn of Amalthea.”
Book 7 · Chapter 26
- with Pindar (Pindar is cited as the source of this view of Fortune.) “I am much of the opinion of Pindar in his Ode that Fortune is one of the Fates, and more powerful than her sisters.”
- with Amalthea (Amalthea's horn is represented with the statue of Fortune.) “I have also seen another building in Ægira, in which there is a statue of Fortune with the horn of Amalthea,”
- with Cupid (The statues of Fortune and Cupid are placed together in a symbolic representation.) “and next it a Cupid with wings: to symbolize to men that success in love is due to chance rather than beauty.”
Book 9 · Chapter 16
- child: Wealth (Fortune is described as Wealth's mother or nurse.) “The idea is ingenious of putting Wealth in the hands of Fortune as her mother or nurse”
- with Xenophon (Xenophon made the hands and face of Fortune's statue.) “The Thebans say that Xenophon the Athenian made the hands and face of the statue”
- with Callistonicus (Callistonicus made the other parts of Fortune's statue.) “and Callistonicus a native of Thebes all the other parts”
- with Wealth (Fortune is represented symbolically as Wealth's mother or nurse.) “The idea is ingenious of putting Wealth in the hands of Fortune as her mother or nurse”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.