Tyche

In ancient Greek city cults, Tyche (Τύχη, meaning "luck" in Greek, Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown (a crown like the walls of the city). In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite, or considered as one of the Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus and Tethys or Zeus Pindar. She was connected with Nemesis and Agathos Daimon ("good spirit").

Tyche appears on many coins of the Hellenistic period in the three centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean. Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines of Hellenistic Romances, such as "Leucippe and Clitophon" or "Daphnis and Chloe". She experienced a resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly-sanctioned Paganism, between the late-fourth-century emperors Julian and Theodosius I who definitively closed the temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability in philosophical circles during that generation, though among poets it was a commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot. [C. M. Bowra, "Palladas on Tyche" "The Classical Quarterly" New Series, 10.1 (May 1960:118-128).] She had temples at Caesarea Maritima, Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople.

In medieval art, she was depicted as carrying a cornucopia, an emblematic ship's rudder, and the wheel of fortune, or she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate. In the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, Tyche became closely associated with the Buddhist ogress Hariti.

References