Tykhe was represented with different 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 (Fates); with a ball she represented the varying unsteadiness of fortune--unsteady and capable of rolling in any direction; with Ploutos or the horn of Amalthea, 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 (right) Nemesis (Indignation) with her arm around Tykhe (Fortune) points an accusing fingure at Helene, who Aphrodite has persuaded to elope with Paris.
Hesiod, Theogony 346 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"Tethys bore to Okeanos the swirling Potamoi (Rivers) ... She [Tethys] brought forth also a race apart of daughters, who with lord Apollon and the Rivers have the young in their keeping all over the earth, since this right from Zeus is given them. They are Peitho ... Kalypso, Eudora and Tykhe [in a list of names] ... Now these are the eldest of the daughters who were born to Tethys and Okeanos, but there are many others beside these."
Pindar, Nemean Ode 12. 1 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Daughter of Zeus Eleutherios (Liberator), Tykhe (Fortune) our saviour goddess."
Alcman, Fragment 64 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) :
"Tykhe (Fortune) sister of Eunomia (Right Order) and Peitho (Persuasion) daughter of Prometheus."
Orphic Hymn 72 to Tyche (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"Queen Tykhe ... born of Eubouleos [Zeus the Counsellor] famed."
| So called in Ancient Greece : La Fortune
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