- 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, itsdestiny . Increasingly during theHellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing amural crown (a crown like the walls of the city). In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter ofHermes andAphrodite , or considered as one of theOceanids , daughters ofOceanus and Tethys orZeus 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-sanctionedPaganism , between the late-fourth-century emperors Julian andTheodosius 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 atCaesarea Maritima ,Antioch ,Alexandria andConstantinople .In
medieval art , she was depicted as carrying acornucopia , anemblem atic ship's rudder, and the wheel of fortune, or she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate. In theGreco-Buddhist art ofGandhara , Tyche became closely associated with the Buddhist ogressHariti .References
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