Fortuna is commonly portrayed with symbols such as a gubernaculum (ship's rudder), a ball or Rota Fortunae (wheel of fortune), and a cornucopia (horn of plenty). She could bestow both good and bad luck and is sometimes shown veiled and blind, akin to modern depictions of Lady Justice but without the scales. Representing life's unpredictability, Fortuna was also seen as a goddess of fate; as Atrox Fortuna, she was believed to have claimed the lives of Augustus' grandsons, Gaius and Lucius.
Fortuna appears in various domestic and personal contexts. In the early Empire, an amulet from the House of Menander in Pompeii links her to the Egyptian goddess Isis, creating the composite deity Isis-Fortuna. She is closely associated with Bonus Eventus, her functional counterpart, with both deities frequently depicted on amulets, coins, and engraved gems throughout the Roman world.