You took the thoughts right out of my brain (much better organized). It's almost as if, in times of lawlessness and chaos, people are willing to believe in Fortune or Fate, to cover all the bad things that seem to happen to them without reason!

Interestingly, the Romans were never all that wedded to Fortune, but in the Middle Ages - after centuries of chaos and war - the goddess Fortune and her famous "wheel" (one day you're on top of the world, then woosh! you're dog meat) again became a major feature in people's mental luggage.

And I agree also with Demetrios and Others - can we have a thread of our very own - perhaps just a general culture or lifestyles thread? - in which we can discuss the lives of women in the Greek world? (It doesn't have to be its own thread, but perhaps tucked into a slightly larger context?)