Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World: Volume 2: Greece and Rome

In Volume 2 of Beware the Evil Eye, John H. Elliott addresses the most extensive sources of Evil Eye belief in antiquity: the cultures of Greece and Rome. In this period, features of the belief found in Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources are expanded to the point where an “Evil Eye belief complex” becomes apparent. This complex of features associated with the Evil Eye – human eye as key organ of information, eye as active not passive, eye as channel of emotion and dispositions, especially envy, arising in the heart, possessors, victims, defensive strategies, and amulets – is essential to an understanding of the literary references to the Evil Eye. Elliott here illuminates the context for examining Evil Eye belief and practice in the Bible and the biblical communities.Table of ContentsContentsList of Illustrations | ixPreface | xvAcknowledgments | xviiAbbreviations | xix1 Introduction | 12 Evil Eye Belief and Practice in Greece and Rome | 7From Homer to Late Roman Antiquity (800 BCE–600 CE)—An Overview | 7Evil Eye Terminology | 23Evil Eye Terms from Greek to Latin | 413 Salient Features of Evil Eye Belief and Practice | 47An Anthropological List of Key Features | 47Plutarch | 48Ancient and Modern Versions Compared | 56The Ancient Evil Eye Belief Complex in Detail | 70The Ancient Evil Eye Belief Complex in Detail | 70The Eye as Vital and Preeminent Organ | 70The Eye as Active Organ and Ancient Theories of Vision | 73The Association of an Evil Eye and an Evil Tongue | 81The Association of Eye and Heart | 82The Association of the Evil Eye with Envy | 83Excursus on Envy | 83Envy—A Complex of Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors | 84Envy, Jealousy and Zeal | 85Greek and Roman Distinctions of Envy, Jealousy, and Zeal | 88Envy and the Evil Eye | 92Envy of the Gods | 96Envy, the Deplorable Human Vice | 100viiiEnvy and the Evil Eye in Sum | 112The Working of an Evil Eye—Ancient Emic Theories | 113The Evil Eye—A Phenomenon of Nature, Not a Vulgar Superstition | 119Possessors and Wielders of the Evil Eye | 121Victims and Targets of the Evil Eye | 143Precautions and Protection against the Evil Eye and Envy—Strategies andMeans (Words, Actions, Amulets) | 153Excursus: The Apotropaic Expression KAI SY (“You too”) | 170Detecting and Curing Injury Caused by the Evil Eye | 2644 The Transcendental Good Eye | 2675 Summary and Conclusion | 269Bibliography | 275Index | 317