A phallus of flame sent by Vulcan rose from the royal hearth and impregnated the slave woman Ocrisia, conceiving Servius Tullius — the future sixth king of Rome, marked from birth by fire crowning his sleeping head.
⚠ Livy (Ab Urbe Condita 1.39) gives Servius Tullius a mortal father, Servius of Corniculum, making the fire-birth a divine variant rather than universal tradition.
Tarquinius Superbus hurled the aged Servius Tullius from the steps of the Senate house, and his henchmen finished the wounded king in the street where Tullia then drove her chariot over her father's body.
Fortuna loved King Servius Tullius and visited him nightly through a small window in his house. His rise from servile birth to Rome's throne embodied her power to elevate the humble, and he built multiple temples in her honor.
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