By Ellen Lorenzi-Prince © 2005 All rights reserved
For [Tykhe’s] gifts
render both of good and ill. And often does the craft of lesser souls outstrip
and bring to naught the strength of better men.
Pindar,
Isthmian 4,
ca. 500 – 400 BCE
Tykhe
was the goddess of fortune, chance and luck. Her favor, and her disfavor, were
extravagant. She was surnamed Automatia, showing her as managing things
according to her own will without regard to human ideas of merit or justice.
Image
source:
Nabataean Roundel ca. 1 – 100 CE