TYCHE (Τύχη). - Greek divinity symbolizing adverse or favorable fate (her name shares the same root as τυγχένω = to obtain by lot), and therefore parallel to the Roman Fortuna (v.).
Mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (v. 420) and in Hesiod (Theogony, v. 360), who makes her an Oceanid companion of Persephone, T. is still a rather vague abstraction. With Pindar (Olymp., 12, 1 ff. and in Pausanias, VII, 26), however, defined as "savior" (Σωτεῖρα), T. is placed among the Moirai (who preside over the destiny of men, corresponding to the Roman Parcae [v.]), of whom she would be the most powerful (cf. Archilochus, frg. 56 Bergk); and from these Moirai — even when she came to be ever better defined by assuming the content of a true divinity in her own right (perhaps from the 5th century B.C., cf. Aeschylus, Agam., 661) with the functions of a priest and the erection of temples — T. will never completely succeed in detaching herself. She was moreover associated with, if not substituted for, other divinities such as Themis, Nemesis, Leto, Hecate, Persephone, etc., and was therefore invoked as goddess of birth, of death, etc.
From the same period (5th century), T., besides being a moira, is a synonym of δαίμων (the Roman genius), whereby the goddess was protectress of the individual (ἀγαθὴ Τύχη, a frequent expression on tombs) and, perhaps from the age of the Diadochi, protectress of cities (Τύχαι πόλεων), which latter aspect was then accentuated in the Roman era.
Of the very numerous depictions of T., which are often perfectly identifiable with the aforementioned goddesses, mention should be made of the oldest, mentioned by Pausanias (IV, 30, 4), a work of Bupalus for the temple of T. at Smyrna: the goddess is depicted with the horn of Amalthea; and the T. of Antioch, a most beautiful work by Eutychides, a pupil of Lysippus.
Bibliography3 works
Cesare D'Onofrio