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TYKHE (Tyche) was the goddess of fortune, chance, providence and fate. She was usually honoured in a more favourable light as Eutykhia (Eutychia), goddess of good fortune, luck, success and prosperity. Tykhe was depicted with a variety of attributes--holding a rudder, she was conceived as the divinity guiding and conducting the affairs of the world, and in this respect she was called one of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates); with a ball she represented the varying unsteadiness of fortune, unsteady and capable of rolling in any direction; with Ploutos (Plutus) or the cornucopia, she was the symbol of the plentiful gifts of fortune. Nemesis (Fair Distribution) was cautiously regarded as the downside of Tykhe, one who provided a check on extravagant favours conferred by fortune. The pair were often depicted as companions in Greek vase painting. In the vase painting (right) Nemesis (Indignation) with her arm around Tykhe (Fortune) points an accusing fingure at Helene, who Aphrodite has persuaded to elope with Paris. |