The Goddess Fortuna in Imperial Rome: Cult, Art, Text - University of ...

agora analogous to the Tyche statue of Athens or the statue of the Demos of
Sparta in the city’s agora; this is unlikely, however, since Sparta did not have city
walls, in contrast to the mural crown of the Tyche statue. If, instead, the statue is
the Tyche of the emperor or the Tyche of Rome, the new Troy, whose cult was
frequently coupled with that of the emperor, 62 it may have stood within or near
the temples of the emperors Julius Caesar or Augustus, in honor of the emperor
Hadrian’s positive influence on the city.
As this examination of the head of the Sparta Tyche statue has
demonstrated, the iconography of Tyche did not always remain the same, but,
rather, changed frequently, according to the needs of the individual dedicator or
city which commissioned the work, particularly during the imperial period.
Indeed, the creation of new Tyche statuary with unique features was common
during the imperial period in the Greek East. In addition to the Hadrianic Sparta
Tyche statue, the Vespasianic creation of the city Tyche of Caesarea Maritima is a
noteworthy example of formulation of a new city Tyche type during the imperial
period. 63 The famous Hellenistic Tyche of Antioch statue also was subject to
imperial reelaborations. Interest in and modification of this Tyche statue, in our
statue’s epoch, the subject of the following section, was echoed by the creation of
62 From the Augustan period and onward, provinces were allowed to worship the emperor with
Roma: Suet., Aug. 52. E.g., Mellor (1975), (1981), Price (1984), Galinsky (1996) 322ff. with
general bibliography.
63 Wenning (1986) 113-129, pls. 15-16.
20