Tyche (Luck)
The following is an excerpt from: Cults, Myths and Legends of Ancient Sicily (Author: Ignazio Caloggero – ISBN: 9788894321913)
Origins of the myth
Tyche (identified with the Roman Fortuna) was a Greek deity, the personification of fortune, or at least of good luck. Tyche is presented as the daughter of Tethys and Oceanus (Hesiod, Theogony, 360) and was considered the city's protector (with the title of "savior"). Tyche is depicted wearing a turreted crown and, sometimes, blindfolded or blind.
Among her titles, in addition to that of "savior", we have "good" and "great". Its attributes are generally a good omen, among them: the cornucopia, the spikes, the turreted crown and the rudder, as a wish for good navigation.
The myth of Tyche is rather sparse; we learn about it not so much through written texts, but rather thanks to her name itself, which means "fate," "destiny." In Hesiod ( Theogony , 346 ff.), Tyche is presented as the daughter of Tethys and Oceanus: she is therefore one of the Oceanids, the ancient daughters (πρεσβύταται κουραί) of that distant pair of deities. The first of these daughters exercised her power over the waters of the sea, while the second over that of rivers.
The Myth in Sicily
In Sicily, there is not much news of the cult, except for the fact that in Syracuse , as Cicero himself recalls, the Tyche district owes its name to an ancient sanctuary (no longer existing at the time of Cicero) dedicated to her (Cicero, Verrine Lib. IV. 58).
Cicero, in Verrine, also mentions a wooden statue dedicated to Good Fortune, as a statue not stolen from the private chapel of Aelius in Messina (Cicero, Verrine Lib. IV.7). Obviously, this is not enough to suggest that the cult of Tyche was also present in Messina.
Another indirect clue is linked to Pindar's story (Olympia 12) where it is said that Tyche was called to defend the city of Himera.
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Photo: The goddess Tyche with the infant god Pluto in her arms (detail). Istanbul, National Archaeological Museum. Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=884390
Informational contributions : Ignazio Caloggero, Sicily Region