Editing Tyche (section)

==Worship==
Tyche was uniquely venerated at [[Itanus|Itanos]] in [[History of Crete|Crete]], as ''Tyche Protogeneia'', linked with the Athenian [[Protogeneia]] ("firstborn"), daughter of [[Erechtheus]], whose self-sacrifice saved the city.<ref>Noted by Spyridakis, who demonstrated that earlier suggestions of a source in Fortuna Primigenia of Praeneste was anachronistic.</ref>  <!--In a similar way, according to [[William Robertson Smith]] the Tyche of [[Antioch]] was originally a young virgin sacrificed at the time of the founding of the city to ensure its continued prosperity and good fortune.--> In [[Alexandria]] the ''Tychaeon'', the Greek temple of Tyche, was described by [[Libanius]] as one of the most magnificent of the entire Hellenistic world.<ref>Libanius, in ''Progymnasmata'' 1114R, noted by Spyridakis 1969:45.</ref>

Stylianos Spyridacis<ref>[http://history.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Spyridakis_Stylianos University of California Davis faculty: Stylianos Spyridakis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516061656/http://history.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Spyridakis_Stylianos |date=2010-05-16 }}</ref> concisely expressed Tyche's appeal in a Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: "In the turbulent years of the [[Diadochi|Epigoni of Alexander]], an awareness of the instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the vicissitudes of the time."<ref>Spyridakis, Stylianos. "The [[Itanos|Itanian]] cult of Tyche Protogeneia", ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'' '''18'''.1 (January 1969:42-48) p. 42.</ref>

According to Matheson, the Goddess Tyche was often worshipped as the personification of a city and its fortune. Matheson also states that there were cults to Tyche all over the Mediterranean. In [[Athens]] for instance, citizens would give tribute to ''Agathe Tyche'' alongside other gods.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Matheson|first=S.B.|date=1994|title=The Goddess Tyche|journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin|pages=18–33}}</ref> Other gods seem to also be presented alongside Tyche including [[Dionysus]] at [[Corinth]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Edwards|first=Charles M.|date=July–September 1990|title=Tyche of Corinth|journal=Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens|volume=59|issue=3|pages=529–542|doi=10.2307/148301|jstor=148301}}</ref>

There was a Temple of Tyche that contained a figure called Nemesis-Tyche, an aspect of Tyche. According to Edwards, [[Nemesis]] and Tyche begin to share cults in the Roman period.<ref name=":2" />

The [[mural crown]] of Tyche of [[Sparta]] depicts the Spartans soldiers repelling Amazons. Palagia argues that this depiction is important to Spartan mythology.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Palagia|first=Olga|date=1994|title=Tyche of Sparta|journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin|pages=64–75}}</ref>

''Automatia'' and ''Meilichius'' were two epithets of Tyche.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D57%3Aentry%3Dautomatia-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Automatia]</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=meilichius-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Meilichius]</ref>