Felicitas (mythology)
Felicitas ( Latin for "bliss") is in Roman mythology the personification of happiness, bliss and fertility. She is depicted as a matron with a cornucopia and a caduceus , sometimes with a fruit measure on her head.
In honor of Felicitas, a temple was built for her under the rule of Lucullus . This temple was completed under the rule of Lepidus and burned down under Claudius .
Since the dictator Sulla , who was nicknamed Felix , the cult gained more and more importance. Caesar had a temple built for her and in the decisive battle at Thapsus , "Felicitas" was the slogan of Caesar's troops. During the imperial era, Felicitas Augusta symbolized the continued state of happiness of the empire and often appeared on the lapel of coins with her attributes as “imperial happiness” . Commodus took felix 185 the first time in the official imperial titulary.
literature
- Hermann Steuding : Felicitas . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1, 2, Leipzig 1890, Col. 1473-1475 ( digitized version ).
- Walter Friedrich Otto : Felicitas. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 2, Stuttgart 1909, Col. 2163-2166.
- Thomas Ganschow: Felicitas . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VIII, Zurich / Munich 1997, pp. 585-591.
- Brigitte Schaffner: Felicitas. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , column 463.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cassius Dio Roman History 43, 21, 1; 76, 2. Suetonius Iulius Caesar 37.
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 44, 5, 2.
- ↑ Bellum Africum 83.