Image Details

Worcester Art Museum

Antioch’s cosmopolitan character was embodied in its patron goddess, the Tyche of Antioch (shown here). A fusion of Greco-Roman and Near Eastern deities, the Tyche was associated with fortune, love, health and the prosperity of the city. This 7-inch-high, gold-eyed, bronze statue of the goddess dates from the second century C.E., but it was probably based on a popular Greek design created some 400 years earlier. The Tyche, who sits on an outcropping of rock, once held a sheaf of wheat—symbolizing prosperity—in her right arm.