FORTUNA REDUX

One of the coins in our museum collection was issued in the name of the emperor Aurelian, who managed during his brief reign (270-275 CE) to restore some order and unity to the Roman Empire after the messy, chaotic years of the mid-third century. The coin on the right is in somewhat better condition than our museum coin, but is very similar to it. The reverse, or tails, side shows the personification Fortuna Redux, a woman who is seated on a wheel and holds a cornucopia and a ship's rudder. The Romans' Fortuna, "Fortune," had many aspects. She was often associated with happy or lucky outcomes, but she was also sometimes portrayed as fickle, blind, or malicious. Fortuna Redux is often described as the aspect of Fortuna who brought travelers (and maybe specifically emperors) safely home. The emperor Domitian had a temple dedicated to her after he returned triumphantly from fighting the German tribes. Even earlier, the Senate erected an altar to Fortuna Redux after Augustus came back from a trip to the east.

Aurelian, too, had more than one triumphal return to Rome from war before he was assassinated in 275. But what about this image of Fortuna Redux on a coin of Gordian III, who was emperor about 30 years before Aurelian? Gordian, who never made it out of his teens, died of illness or was killed on campaign in Mesopotamia before he could make it safely home to Rome. Maybe in this case the image of Fortuna Redux (which means "Returning Fortune") was meant to suggest in a general way that the luck of the Romans was taking a turn for the better. If so, it wouldn't be the first time that Roman coin reverses were illustrations of wishful thinking, rather than reflections of reality.

For another version of Fortuna Redux on a Gordian III coin, along with some commentary by one of our donors, see this page of the Ancient Coins for Education website. Information on Rome's temple and altar of Fortuna Redux is here. Both photos in this post are courtesy of Beast Coins (thank you!).