Tyche: Calculating the Odds

     Tyche, the Greek goddess of chance, neatly represents and condenses the religious views of the Hellenistic world by building off of traditional Greek beliefs and flexibly combining with the gods of eastern Mediterranean regions. As a goddess, Tyche causes sudden changes in human affairs, resulting from her fortuitous good luck or disastrous disfavor. Generally, Greeks viewed Tyche’s interferences from a negative standpoint since whatever seemed granted for nothing could just as easily be taken away.

     Tyche refers specifically to the Hellenistic goddess that interacted at all possible levels of chance from minute to momentous. Tyche is one of the most popular forms of Fate in Greek and Hellenistic texts.The earliest mention of a Tyche-like god in Greek literature are Homer’s references to Fates. Initially, Fate begins as an impersonal force called “moira” while a negative, malignant force called “daim” represented evil misfortunes. Homer implies that destiny is inevitable despite any actions taken to avoid it. For example Odysseus was fated to return to Ithaca despite the long delay. Fate will occur regardless of tradition, social hierarchy, and seniority since its power lies outside man’s control. Despite this foundation, Homer never reveres moira or daim as gods. Eventually, these impersonal forces shifted into the Fates of Classical Greek mythology and exerted control over the Olympian gods. 

     After Homer but before the Classical Greek era, the definitions of Fate and Chance changed, although the differences were nearly indistinguishable. Aristotle failed to define clearly the distinctions between Tyche’s influence and simple accidents. A further hindrance in clarification is the absence of lowercase letters in ancient Greek. Thus, the meaning of the term, either the goddess or ordinary chance, was derived purely from context and was easily miscommunicated. As the extent of Tyche’s control over events grew through the religious shift, eventually even the Olympian gods became restricted to the hands of Fate. The increase of Tyche’s power decreased the common people’s respect for the Olympian gods’ intervention and control. Against the philosophical rational that characterizes the Greeks, Fate is irrational. Slowly, Greeks concluded that since the Olympian gods themselves had no control over their own inevitable fate, interacting with deities unable to assist or defend is unbeneficial.

      Tyche is regularly depicted in statues, and temples dedicated to her cult arose in nearly every large city of the Hellenistic world. In her arm is either a cornucopia or the babe Plutus to show Tyche’s control over and power to distribute wealth. In her other hand is a rudder to show her authority over destiny since she ultimately determines the outcome. She steers men through chaotic waters without any predictability, rewarding without cause and punishing without reason. Her feet rest on a sphere of water showing her roots of chaos, turbidity, and unpredictability. Her face is wrapped in cloth to hide her eyes and emphasize the randomness of her generous blessings and cursings. Tyche’s popularity remained mainly in larger cities since rural populations stayed more traditional to the Olympic and local gods, but the general populous could and did credit every twist in daily life to the turning of Tyche’s will. These beliefs continued for centuries.

     

     Major historic events became notorious for unpredictability, and impossible military victories testified to Tyche’s reigning strength. Specific examples include both Athens’ and Thebes’ rise to supreme power over the Greeks without any apparent reason. Subsequently, Fortune collapsed these cities glories just as quickly as they had risen. Tyche lifted them high for a time simply to smash the once glorious empires in one of her swiftly changing moods. Fortune is fickle. Historic writers attributed entire books to the whims of Fortune.

     With the broadening of Fate’s power and elimination of the gods’ intervening role, Tyche overtook the throne of Olympic gods. While the traditional Greek gods are not neglected, with the institution of many ruler cults and the popularity of adopted local gods, the traditional religion of the ancient Greeks lessened. While new temples to the traditional Olympian gods were not being built, old temples dedicated to the Olympian gods remained in use. As one historian noted, “Most English cathedrals pre-date the Reformation, but afterwards the predominate religious culture was still Christian.” This religious shift intensifies as Greeks move eastward during the Hellenistic Age, and the goddess of fate comes to embody every circumstance of significance. Tyche is praised for everything from the blessing of a child’s birth and celebration of an individual to the interactions of kingdoms as a whole.

     As the Greeks grew to accept a power that their lot in life was inconsequential of their actions, they accepted that the fall of their empires was not because of a failing of themselves but rather a necessary tide in the whim of Tyche's will. That could have caused them to cycle back to the acceptance of inescapable, unavoidable fate as exhibited in Homer's time but for the adoption of Tyche into other culture's that the Greeks influenced. The world is a large place full of potential, but regardless of the luck of each man's situation, it is for him to choose his course and beat back the fickle wishes of one seductive Lady of Fortune.

Luck be with you.
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Agatha Tyche

American Castles

     The majority of Americans are of European descent and have strong cultural links to Europe's past. The mixing-pot of America has blended the various European nationalities with African, Latin, and Asian customs to create a country of unique, unspecific specialty. Despite the influence of other groups, European's have been the strongest determinant on American culture and values.
     Americans use more water annually on lawn and ornamental grasses than any agricultural crop. A nation of wealth, abundance, and excess, a large portion of Americans live similar lives to ones of medieval nobles with a diet rich in red meats, varied entertainment, and large houses surrounded by endless fields of grass.
     In medieval Europe, castles developed as stronghold structures for militaristic and political purposes. As the importance of castles grew and military siege technology competed to overpower the defensive systems of castles, the landscape itself was often altered to accommodate a sound defensive architectural structure which including the clearing of nearby forests to increase castle's visibility of the terrain and approaching enemies. As castles became fixtures of the landscape more as statements of wealth and less as military strongholds, lawnscapes became flourishing testaments of the wealthy elite. Empty fields originally cleared for defensive purposes became trimmed lawns of cultivated grasses and ornamental plants.

     With the American assistance in both world wars and a large exposure to European luxuries, American suburbias adopted cultivated grass lawns in the 1950s. As American wealth grew, the opulence of the lawn accompanied the expansion of the middle class out of the cities into larger houses with lawns.
     The foolishness of lawns in an industrialized, environmentally aware society is one of the ridiculous paradoxes of the modern West. Lawn care in America is a $75 billion industry with over half a million businesses and a million employees, yet it is one of the most environmentally and ecologically taxing industries. Americans, increasingly opposed to unsustainable environmental treatments, have increased the size of the lawn care industry by over 3% annually for nearly four decades.
     While chemical fertilizer runoff and aquifer depletion are concerns for agriculture, similar techniques are followed by pointless, unproductive lawn care services. Grass is grown to cut and trash; conversly agricultural crops are grown and harvested to sustain the human population and its husbandry needs.
     America, a land of incomprehensible wealth and resources, squanders its time, fuel, space, money, and population to care and treat millions of hectares of a non-productive crops that erode water systems, hog resources, and exasperate the worthlessness of epitomized luxuries. To set an example for developing nations, ease the use of natural resources, and increase the functionality of land and working population, extensive grass lawns should be nether cultivated nor cared for. If humanity is to press forward, we must do so in a conservative, mindful, selfless fashion that enables the hopes of the futures for the good of all.
   
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Agatha Tyche