Editing Evil eye (section)

==History==

The evil eye originated in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). The earliest evidence excavated from various ancient cities include:

Written documents: A Sumerian cuneiform mentions an "eye ad-gir" that afflicts people with evil<ref name="iupress.istanbul.edu.tr">{{cite journal | url=https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/tjh/article/eski-yakindoguda-goz-sembolizmi-ve-dualizm-mezopotamya-misir-ve-israil#:~:text=Most%20experts%2C%20believe%20that%20the,continued%2C%20and%20extended%20this%20belief | doi=10.26650/iutd.756209 | title=Eski Yakındoğu'da Göz Sembolizmi ve Düalizm: Mezopotamya, Mısır ve İsrail | date=2021 | last1=Dilek | first1=Yeşim | journal=Tarih Dergisi | issue=74 | pages=1–30 }}</ref>

Archaeological data: Alabaster idols with incised eyes were found in Tell Brak, one of Mesopotamia's oldest cities<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180216-the-strange-power-of-the-evil-eye#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20amulets%20had%20been%20excavated,idols%20made%20with%20incised%20eyes.%E2%80%9D&text=While%20the%20alabaster%20idols%20of,the%20blue%20colour%20when%20baked.%E2%80%9D&text=Yildiran%20makes%20reference%20to%20several,and%20copper%20as%20a%20result | title=The strange power of the 'evil eye' | date=19 February 2018 }}</ref>

Amulets: Eye-shaped amulets were found in Mesopotamia<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.forte-academy.co.uk/post/5-things-you-should-know-about-the-evil-eye-and-how-to-protect-yourself#:~:text=1.,ships%20to%20ensure%20safe%20travel%C2%B2 | title=5 things you should know about the "Evil Eye" (And how to protect yourself) | date=24 December 2022 }}</ref>

Most experts believe that the concept of the evil eye belief emerged from ancient Mesopotamia and spread to surrounding areas. Written documents and archaeological data reveal that the people of Sumer, who are believed to be the first inhabitants of the region, initiated, continued, and extended this belief.<ref name="iupress.istanbul.edu.tr"/>

Texts from ancient [[Ugarit]], a port city in what is now [[Syria]], attests to the concept of the 'evil eye' – the city existed until about 1180 BC, during the [[late Bronze Age collapse]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pardee|first=Dennis|title=Writings from the Ancient World: Ritual and Cult at Ugarit (vol. 10)|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|year=2002|isbn=1-58983-026-1|location=Atlanta|pages=161–166|chapter=VIII. INCANTATIONS: RS 22.225: The Attack of the Evil Eye and a Counterattack}}</ref> In Greek [[Classical antiquity]], the 'evil eye' is referenced by [[Hesiod]], [[Callimachus]], [[Plato]], [[Diodorus Siculus]], [[Theocritus]], [[Plutarch]], [[Heliodorus of Emesa|Heliodorus]], [[Pliny the Elder]], and [[Aulus Gellius]]. Peter Walcot's ''Envy and the Greeks'' (1978) listed more than one hundred works by these and other authors mentioning the evil eye.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=J. M. |title=The new Penguin history of the world |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=9780141007236 |edition=4th rev.}}</ref> Ancient Greek authors frequently mentioned the {{lang|grc|ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|ophthalmòs báskanos}}; evil eye).<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=fascinum-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Fascinum]</ref>

As widely documented in archaeologic findings and in ancient literature, the [[Illyrians]] believed in the force of [[Spell (ritual)|spells]] and the evil eye, in the magic power of protective and beneficial amulets which could avert the evil eye or the bad intentions of enemies. Such amulets included objects with the shape of [[phallus]], [[hand]], [[leg]], and animal [[teeth]].<ref name=Stipčević>{{cite book|last=Stipčević|first=Aleksandar|title=The Illyrians: history and culture|year=1974|edition=1977|publisher=Noyes Press|isbn=978-0815550525|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLcWAQAAIAAJ|page=182}}</ref><ref name=Wilkes>{{Cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John J.|author-link=J. J. Wilkes|title=The Illyrians|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=1992|isbn=0-631-19807-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C|pages=243, 245}}</ref>

[[File:Eye-cup Staatliche Antikensammlungen 589.jpg|thumb|right|Kylix eye cup (530–520 BC), inscribed with Chalcidian text. It features an eye motif, likely to ward off the evil eye.]]

Classical authors attempted both to describe and to explain the function of the evil eye. [[Plutarch]] in his work entitled ''Symposium'' has a separate chapter describing such beliefs.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/> In his scientific explanation, he stated that the eyes were the chief, if not sole, source of the deadly rays that were supposed to spring up like poisoned darts from the inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye. Plutarch treated the phenomenon of the evil eye as something seemingly inexplicable that is a source of wonder and cause of incredulity.{{efn|Plutarch, ''[[Moralia]]'', Book VII}} Pliny the Elder described the ability of certain African enchanters to have the "power of fascination with the eyes and can even kill those on whom they fix their gaze".{{efn|Pliny the Elder, ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', VII.2}}

The idea of the evil eye appears in the poetry of [[Virgil]] in a conversation between the shepherds Menalcas and Damoetas.{{efn|Virgil, ''[[Eclogues]]'', III.1.103}} In the passage, Menalcas is lamenting the poor health of his stock: "What eye is it that has fascinated my tender lambs?". The Christian Gospels record the fact that Jesus warned against the evil eye in a list of evils (Mark 7:22).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mark 7 Greek interlinear, parsed and per word translation, free online |url=https://www.abarim-publications.com/Interlinear-New-Testament/Mark/Mark-7-parsed.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Abarim Publications |language=en}}</ref>

Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the evil eye could affect both humans and animals, for example cattle.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/>

===Protection from the eye===
{{further|Apotropaic magic}}

Belief in the evil eye during antiquity varied across different regions and periods. The evil eye was not feared with equal intensity in every corner of the Roman Empire. There were places in which people felt more conscious of the danger of the evil eye. In Roman times, not only were individuals considered to possess the power of the evil eye but whole tribes, especially those of [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] and [[Scythia]], were believed to be transmitters of the evil eye.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elworthy |first=Frederick Thomas |title=The Evil Eye: An Account of this Ancient and Widespread Superstition |publisher=J. Murray |year=1895 |isbn=9780524066874 |page=11}}</ref>

Many different objects and charms were used for protection from fascination. The protective items referred to by the Greeks with a variety of names such as apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta, profylaktika<ref>{{cite book| author = Lesley A. Beaumont | title = Childhood in Ancient Athens: Iconography and Social History| publisher = Routledge | year = 2013|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iXSmuBlH79QC| page = 62|isbn = 978-0415248747}}</ref> and phylaktiria.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Amuletum">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Damuletum-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Amuletum]</ref> Greeks placed talismans in their houses and wore amulets to protect them from the evil eye,<ref>{{cite book |author= Alan Dundes |date=1992 |title=The Evil Eye: A Casebook |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |page=182 |isbn=9780299133344 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUDnzAfDleEC}}</ref> in addition they attached charms on the animals.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Amuletum"/> [[Peisistratus]] hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the [[Acropolis of Athens]] for protection.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/>
 
The ''[[fascinus]]'' or ''fascinum'', from the Latin verb ''fascinare'' "to cast a spell" (the origin of the English word "[[wikt:fascinate|fascinate]]"), is one example of an apotropaic object used against the evil eye. They have been found throughout Europe and into the Middle East from contexts dating from the [[first century BC]] to the [[fourth century AD]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Whitmore, A. |date=2017 |chapter=Fascinating ''fascina'': apotropaic magic and how to wear a penis |editor1=Cifarelli, M. |editor2=Gawlinkski, L. |title=What shall I say of clothes? Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Dress in Antiquity |place=Boston, MA |publisher=[[American Institute of Archaeology]] |pages=47–65}}</ref> The phallic charms were often objects of personal adornment (such as pendants and finger rings), but also appeared as stone carvings on buildings,<ref name="BAR">{{cite book |author1=Parker, A. |date=2017 |chapter=Protecting the Troops? Phallic Carvings in the North of Roman Britain |editor1=Parker, A |title=''Ad Vallum'': Papers on the Roman Army and Frontiers in celebration of Dr Brian Dobson |series=BAR British Series 631 |place=Oxford |publisher=British Archaeological Report |pages=117–130|title-link=Brian Dobson (archaeologist) }}</ref> mosaics, and wind-chimes (''[[Tintinnabulum (Ancient Rome)|tintinnabula]]'').<ref name="TRAC">{{Cite book |author1=Parker, A. |date=2018 |chapter=The Bells! The Bells! Approaching ''tintinnabula'' in Roman Britain and Beyond |editor1=Parker, A. |editor2=Mckie, S. |title=Material Approaches to Roman Magic: Occult Objects and Supernatural Substances |series=[[Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference|TRAC]] Themes in Roman Archaeology 2 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow |pages=57–68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=[[Catherine Johns|Johns, C.]] |date=1989 |chapter=The Phallus and the Evil Eye |title=Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome |publisher=British Museum Press |place=London}}</ref> Examples of stone phallic carvings, such as from [[Leptis Magna]], depict a disembodied phallus attacking an evil eye by ejaculating towards it.<ref name="BAR"/>
In describing their ability to deflect the evil eye, [[Ralph Merrifield]] described the Roman phallic charm as a "kind of lightning conductor for good luck".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Merrifield, R. |date=1969 |title=Roman London |place=London |publisher=Cassell |page=170}}</ref>

Another way for protection from fascination used by the ancient Greeks and Romans was by spitting into the folds of the clothes.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/>

Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=3:chapter=4&highlight=evil%2Ceye Apollodorus, Library, note 10]</ref>