Fortuna Gambling on Rapier Bouts: Robert of Beddingfield

seriously? I'd start with www.godchecker.com .

[I know it's cheating a bit but at least it's a Roman deity...]

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/roman-mythology.php?deity=FORTUNA

If he's available, though, who else but Count Daffyd... I mean, Guido? hehe

What the world needs is a good ELE. - Jonathan Blackbow

Fortuna is female, and I have plenty of documentation of male actors dressed as women (( key clothing items are palla [wrap] and stola [overgown] to play role of woman ))

See the following on VRoma.org:

http://www.vroma.org/images/raia_images/fortuna.jpg
Fortuna: silver statuette with gilt traces.
The crowned goddess holds a cornucopia in her left hand; her right arm is lost. Roman (probably made in Gaul) 200-225 CE. London, British Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006.

The immature nymph of the dragonfly.

http://insectzoo.msstate.edu/Images/odo-g-3.jpg

I'm just sayin'.
Robert

So, Robert, do you want to be the goddess Fortuna?

In any case, I had somehow pictured you dressed in red. Got anything that color?

Know anyone your size whom you can borrow a dress from?

And no, I wouldn't want you to shave.

You in drag would actually be fertile ground for the oracular clue--If you as Fortuna got mad if the questers laughed at you or said anything insulting, you could offer then bad odds on their bets or otherwise make it hard on them.

* * THE VENUS THROW * *

==> Potentially interesting tie-in to Venus -- looks like highest throw is hers?

http://www.bible-history.com/latin/latin_v.html

venus -eris, f. charm, loveliness; love; a loved one; personif. Venus, goddess of love; the Venus throw, highest throw of the dice; adj. Venereus (-ius) -a -um, of Venus or of love.

* * GAMBLING ILLEGAL OUTSIDE OF SATURNALIA * *

==> Possible inclusion in Oracle's bit on Fortuna? special dispensation, in honor of Coronation or some such?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice

"The Romans were passionate gamblers, especially in the luxurious days of the Roman Empire, and dicing was a favorite form, though it was forbidden except during the Saturnalia. Horace derided what he presented as a typical youth of the period, who wasted his time amid the dangers of dicing instead of taming his charger and giving himself up to the hardships of the chase. Throwing dice for money was the cause of many special laws in Rome. One of these stated that no suit could be brought by a person who allowed gambling in his house, even if he had been cheated or assaulted. Professional gamblers were common, and some of their loaded dice are preserved in museums. The common public-houses were the resorts of gamblers, and a fresco is extant showing two quarrelling dicers being ejected by the indignant host."

...

"It is unknown of what material the earliest polyhedral dice were made. A pair of icosahedral (20-sided) dice dating from Roman times are on display at the British Museum.[3]

Roughly cubical six-sided Roman dice made of wood, bone, ivory and lead have been discovered. It is possible that polyhedral dice were used by even earlier cultures."

...

"20 icosahedron Icosahedron Faces are equilateral triangles. Typically, opposite faces add to twenty-one. A Roman icosahedron die from the 2nd century AD has been found, though the game it was used for is not known.[3]"

...

"[3] a b Thompson, Clive (December 02, 2003). Ancient Roman dungeonmastering. Collision Detection. Retrieved on 2006-06-26."

http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2003/12/ancient_roman_d.ht...

* * ROMAN DICE GAMES * *

Tabula -- backgammon -- http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk116/roma/tabula.html

Tali -- knucklebones -- http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk116/roma/tali.html

* * IMAGES * *

Scroll down for extant Roman die: http://www.gferrari.com/dice.html

20-sided die: http://www.collisiondetection.net/images/twelve_sided_die.gif