TYCHE (Τύχη). — A Greek divinity symbolizing adverse or favorable fortune (her name is etymologically related to τύχην = to obtain by lot), thus paralleling the Roman Fortuna (q.v.).
Mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (q.V. 420) and in Hesiod (Theogony, q.V. 360), where she is depicted as an Oceanid companion of Persephone, Tyche remains a rather vague abstraction. With Pindar (Olymp. 12, 1 ff. and in Pausanias, VII, 26), however, she is defined as "Saviour" (Σωτήρα), placed among the Moirai (who preside over human destiny, corresponding to the Roman Parcae [q.v.]), of which she would be the most powerful (cf. Archilochus, frg. 56 Bergk); and from these Moirai—even as she increasingly assumes the character of a true divinity (perhaps from the 5th century B.C., cf. Aeschylus, Agam. 661)—with the functions of a priestess and the erection of temples, Tyche never fully separates herself. Moreover, she was associated, if not replaced, with other deities such as Themis, Nemesis, Latona, Hecate, Persephone, etc., and invoked as a goddess of birth, death, etc.
Tyche — The Tyche of Antioch. Roman marble copy of a bronze original by Eutychides (early 3rd century B.C.) — Vatican Museums.
From the same period (5th century), Tyche, in addition to being a personification of fate (moira), is synonymous with σάλμων (the Roman genius), whereby the goddess became the protector of the individual (ἀγαθὴ Τύχη, a frequent expression on tombs) and, perhaps from the age of the Diadochi, the protector of cities (Τύχη πόλεων), the latter aspect being later accentuated in the Roman era.
Among the countless representations of Tyche, many of which are perfectly identifiable with the aforementioned goddesses, two deserve mention: the earliest, mentioned by Pausanias (IV, 30, 4), a work by Bupalus for the temple of Tyche at Smyrna, where the goddess is depicted with the horn of Amalthea; and the Tyche of Antioch, a magnificent work by Eutychides, a pupil of Lysippos.