Evil eye and protection
The gaze that envies, that admires too much or that brings bad luck is one of humanity's oldest and most widespread fears. This section traces the belief in the evil eye across cultures: the baskania of the Greeks, the fascinum of the Romans, the ayin hara of the Jewish tradition, the ayn of the Islamic world, the drishti of India, the mal de ojo of Spain and Latin America. We linger in Southern Italy, where in the eighteenth century Neapolitan jettatura became the subject of half-serious treatises such as Nicola Valletta's Cicalata sul fascino, and where Ernesto De Martino carried out the research that became Sud e magia. We tell the story of objects and gestures, from the Turkish nazar to the coral horn, from the mano cornuta to the Eye of Saint Lucy, always from a historical and anthropological point of view: folk practices are described for what they meant to those who lived them, never as instructions to follow.
Baskania: the evil eye in ancient Greece
From the baskania debated by Plutarch to Theocritus' Polyphemus spitting three times: how the ancient Greeks understood the envious gaze and its remedies.
The double pupil: peoples of the evil eye in ancient authors
Pliny, Aulus Gellius and Ovid tell of peoples and witches with two pupils able to kill with a look: the story of a marvel of the ancient world.
Envy and fascinum: the harmful gaze in ancient Rome
The fascinum hung beneath the triumphal chariot, children's bullae, the verses of Catullus and Virgil: how the Romans understood and feared envy.
The Antioch mosaic and the protective eyes of ancient art
From the mosaic of the House of the Evil Eye at Antioch to Attic eye-cups: how ancient art depicted the harmful gaze and fought against it.
Fascination among theologians and philosophers, Middle Ages to Renaissance
Thomas Aquinas, Marsilio Ficino, Leonardo Vairo and Francis Bacon: how learned European culture tried to explain the power of the envious gaze.
Ayin hara: the evil eye in the Jewish tradition
From the Ethics of the Fathers to the Talmud, from the hamsa to the red thread: the history of belief in the ayin hara and protective Jewish customs.
The evil eye in the Islamic world: ayn, envy and words of protection
From the saying that the evil eye is «real» to the suras of refuge, from mashallah to the hand of Fatima: belief in the ayn in Islamic history.
The nazar boncuğu: history of the Turkish blue glass eye
Eye beads of the ancient Mediterranean, the glassmakers of Görece, the Greek mati: history and meanings of the nazar boncuğu, Turkey's blue glass amulet.
Drishti and nazar: the harmful gaze in Indian tradition
The kajal mark on newborns, lemons and chillies on shops, the face of Kirtimukha on temples: the evil eye in India between myth and everyday life.
Mal de ojo: the evil eye between Spain and Latin America
The jet of Santiago, the Mexican ojo de venado, the Brazilian figa and the curanderas: the story of mal de ojo from medieval Spain to the Americas.
Mano cornuta and mano fica: gestures against the evil eye
From the Neapolitan horns described by Andrea de Jorio to the Roman fig hand: origins, forms and meanings of the protective gestures of the Mediterranean.
Spitting, touching iron, not praising: small charms through history
The ritual spitting of Theocritus and Pliny, Persius' middle finger, protective iron: the history of everyday gestures used against the evil eye.
The Neapolitan cornetto: history of the coral good-luck horn
Horn of plenty, coral from Torre del Greco and rules handed down by word of mouth: the history and meanings of the cornetto, the lucky charm of Naples.
Neapolitan jettatura: when bad luck becomes a person
From the envious evil eye to the involuntary jettatore: how jettatura arose in eighteenth-century Naples, a belief between fear, irony and theatre.
Nicola Valletta and the Cicalata sul fascino, the book of jettatura
In 1787 the jurist Nicola Valletta published in Naples the Cicalata sul fascino volgarmente detto jettatura: a book between erudition and irony.
The jettatore in literature: from Gautier to Pirandello
Théophile Gautier's Paul d'Aspremont and Pirandello's Chiàrchiaro: how literature has portrayed the jettatore, victim of other people's gazes.
Ernesto De Martino and Sud e magia: the anthropology of fascination
Fieldwork in Lucania, the crisis of presence and fascination: why Ernesto De Martino's Sud e magia, published in 1959, remains a classic of anthropology.
Affascino in Southern Italy: folk practices through anthropology
Secret formulas passed on at Christmas, oil on water, expert women: the evil eye in Southern Italy as recorded by Pitrè and by later ethnographers.
The Eye of Saint Lucy: a seashell against the envious gaze
The operculum of a sea snail linked to the martyr of Syracuse: the history of the Eye of Saint Lucy, a traditional amulet of Southern Italy and its islands.
The child to be protected: coral and amulets in Renaissance painting
The Christ Child wearing coral in the Brera Altarpiece and the Senigallia Madonna: childhood amulets between ancient sources and Italian painting.