Greek art, fame and fake news : the Tyche of Antioch

This pentanummion (a 5 nummia coin) circulated in Antioch under Justin I (518-527). It represents the centuries-old statue of the Tyche of Antioch, in a distyle shrine.

Justin I (518-527), AE pentanummion, Antioch.
Obv.: d N IVƧTINVƧ P P AVC, diad. dr. and cuir. bust r.
Rev.: the Tyche of Antioch veiled, wearing mural crown, holding branch, seated l. in distyle shrine, river Orontes swimming at her feet, large Э.

The period is purely Christian, but this pagan deity in her temple could still be seen on new coins ! An intellectual like John Malalas, who lived and served in Antioch in the 520s, used coins like this one everyday. For him, this statue had a special history : it was the statue of a poor virgin girl named Aimathe who was sacrificed by the king Seleucus when he founded Antioch, many centuries ago. This is what he wrote in his Chronographia:
"... where the village of Bottia was, across from Iopolis, there he [Seleucus Nicator] staked out the foundations of the wall, and through the agency of Amphion the high priest and officiant of the mysteries he sacrificed a virgin girl by the name of Aimathe in the space between the city and the river on the 22nd of Artemisios, or May, at the first hour of the day, as the sun was rising. He called [the city] after the name of his own son who was called Antiochus Soter. And he straightway established a temple, which he called that of Zeus Bottios. And he swiftly raised the tremendous walls through the agency of Xenarios the architect. He set up a bronze stele in the form of a statue of the maiden who had been offered as a sacrifice as the tyche of the city above the river, and at once he made a sacrifice to her as the Tyche."

Of course it was 100% fake news, forged by Christian propagandists to vilify the old Hellenic religion.

Actually, this Tyche of Antioch was a colossal early 3rd c. BC bronze statue made by the sculptor Eutychides of Sycion, a pupil of Lysippus and, according to Pliny, a representative of the last generation of talented Greek sculptors. His floruit was the 121st Olympiad : 296-293 BC. He made a bronze statue of the river Eurotas for the city of Sparta, and a statue of Liber Pater (probably a Dionysos) which could be seen at Rome in the art collection of Asinius Pollio. Another one of his works, a named Timosthenes of Elis, winner of the foot race, could be seen at Olympia.

His most famous work was the colossal bronze statue of the Tyche of Antioch on the Orontes, a veiled young lady wearing a mural crown, wrapped in her himation, sitting on a rock, with a nude young man swimming in a stream at her feet and representing the Orontes river. It was in the Tychaion, her temple, and was represented on Antioch coins since the Hellenistic times.

3rd and 4th c. coins of Antioch with this Tyche (Elagabalus, Trebonianus Gallus, Maximinus II) :


Under the Roman Empire, the statue became very famous. Small-scale reproductions in marble or bronze were sold to customers from everywhere. The finest marble replica was found in Rome and his now at the Vatican Museum, smaller bronze replicas could be found even in western Europe. In Syria, it became a standard : many cities in north Syria and Mesopotamia copied this model for their own Tyche.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Uggh, hate the contexts of that "fake news" term, but thanks for the rundown. Do you have a picture of the Vatican reproduction?

 

Good write up and fantastic array of coinage.

 

Here is the Vatican statue. It has been found in Rome, I don't know where precisely. The inscription on the base is modern, it says it was offered py pope Pius VI (pope 1775-1799).