Dr. Nicole L. Tilford
The Torah.com, Apr. 28, 2022
“Belief in the evil eye relies on a physiological understanding of the eye that is quite different from our own.”
Walk into a traditional gift shop around the Mediterranean, and you might see a collection of brightly colored necklaces or keychains or pottery items with several concentric circles. In Jewish or Islamic stores, you might even find a hamsa,[1] a hand-shaped amulet, which sometimes has a picture of an eye in the palm. Although largely viewed as souvenirs or fashion accessories by Western tourists today, these charms are intended to protect the wearer from the evil eye, the harmful glance of another, and reflect a belief that dates back to antiquity.
The Evil Eye in Sumer and Beyond
Belief in the evil eye—igi ḫul in Sumerian—can be traced to ancient Sumer (ca. 3000 B.C.E.). In the Lament for Sumer and Urim, for instance, the god Enlil puts “the evil eye on the sons of the loyal men” to decimate them, while in the Lament for Eridug, Enlil “looked maliciously at Sumer; he demolished it.”[2] The Instructions of Šuruppag warns “Do not do evil with your eye” and even describes this as worse than a curse:
Whoever insults can hurt only the skin;
Greedy eyes, however, can kill.[3]
This belief was not limited to Sumer and can be found in cultures across Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. A spell from the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 B.C.E), for instance, details the havoc wrought by the evil eye:
The eye is a fearsome snake, the eye of the man is a fearsome snake,
The eye of the evil man is a fearsome snake.
It approached heaven—it did not rain,
It approached the earth—herbs did not grow,
It approached the ox—it broke its yoke,
It approached the cattle pen—its cheese became bad,
It catches the Kasura-fish,
It approached the young man—he lost his strength, … [To read the full article, click here]