Tyche

Smith, A. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0224-428X (2012) Tyche. In: Bagnall, R., Brodersen, K., Champion , C., Erskine, A. and Huebner, S. (eds.) The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley, London. ISBN 9781405179355 doi: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17462

Abstract/Summary

The word tyche (plural tychai) denotes an ancient Greek concept encompassing many aspects of fortune – chance, fate, luck, occurrence, even achievement, success, and wealth – both good and bad. As a personification of that concept, the goddess Tyche came to symbolize the fate and fortune of rulers and through them their cities; she thus emerged as the preeminent city goddess throughout the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Her name is etymologically related to the verb tynchanein (“to hit, meet with, be favored with, happen accidentally”). The connection between the noun and verb is so close that it is difficult to distinguish in Greek literature between the deity and the abstraction.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/24484
Item Type	Book or Report Section
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Classics
Publisher	Wiley
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