The Evil Eye and Making Magical Amulets

 At the beginning of this month I ran a reading grouping (Critical Dialogues) discussing the Evil Eye in antiquity, focusing on Plutarch's dialogue on this in Table Talk; an old translation of this freely available online can be found at Perseus Project (I used the Loeb for this, but it is behind a paywall). We did not look at it in its entirety as it is a little long for a discussion, but I chose what I considered the most interesting bits, and I included also a couple of casual references in papyrus letters, and a review of some material culture, as I have at least one participant who is an archaeology student. I thought it might be fun to make some amulets for attendees:

A completed amulet.

I'll discuss these below.

The concept of the Evil Eye is still around today, although many scholars of this phenomenon in antiquity say we should not compare the modern folk belief with that of the past. That said, an article I read about the Evil Eye from the Italian tradition still existing in New York (the malocchio), does bear a striking resemblance as they both boil down to looking at someone with envy and as a result causing the person looked at harm. In classical antiquity the Evil eye was known as βασκανια in Greek or fascinum in Latin.

Plutarch's discussion of this is fascinating, as he attempts to bring what we would consider a "scientific" lens to the idea of someone bringing misfortune on someone just by looking at them. The attempt to bring reason to what was commonly accepted in the Graeco-Roman world as a folklore practice interests me no end. One of the early statements in the dialogue fascinated me:

"In general," he [Mestrius Florus] went on, "the man who demands to see the logic of each and every thing destroys the wonder in all things. Whenever the logical explanation for anything eludes us, we begin to be puzzled, and therefore to be philosophers. Consequently, in a way, those who reject marvels destroy philosophy. The right method," he maintained, "is to search out the reason for facts by means of logic, but to take the facts themselves as they are recorded."

I struggle with understanding philosophy of any stripe, but this passage spoke to me. It was like an ancient author was encouraging readers to continue to look for the marvellous in the world around us; and that is something I like to do, especially the odd and strange in antiquity as well as today. 

An explanation put forwards in the dialogue is that the eyes emit a pneuma (while the Loeb translates as "essence") which would take a gaseous form which allows sight to affect another. It is because of how being the object of sight might affect someone that amulets were used to ward off the evil eye according to Plutarch. He has himself say:

"What I have said shows why the so-called amulets are thought to be protection against malice. The strange look of them attracts the gaze, so that it exerts less pressure upon its victim."

In the discussion I led, I had decided to look at amulet examples before discussing the texts, which I now wish I had not done. This particular comment would have been an excellent segue. Oh well.

The discussion of the letters was very cursory, and was just to provide examples of how the Evil Eye could be added casually into letters. The letters I chose used the the participle αβασκαντων, which had been translated as "unharmed by the Evil Eye" could have just as easily be translated as "free from harm" or "secure against enchantments." While the terms for the Evil Eye, βασκανια and fascinum, started as specifically referring to the Evil Eye, over time came to refer to any malicious magical practice. In the case of Latin, one less commonly used term for an enchantress was fascinator. I may have sniggered at this, especially given Plutarch's theory of "outlandish amulets draws eyes away from the face", and the nature of fascinators worn at horse-racing events. 

I have been fortunate to look at a number of different amulets in my current research. I kind of fell down a research rabbit hole when looking at one medico-magical spell in the Medicina Plinii, which allowed me to look more deeply at this kind of common material culture from the classical world. I have written about amulets here before, but I have gotten to look at these even more closely than ever before. 

Amulets can take multiple forms. In my recent research I have come across amulets made from carved stones which are commonly referred to as "magical gems" in most scholarship; amulets which took the form of written spell placed in capsules and then worn on the body; and small metal medallions. These amulets were used for a variety of reasons, but at their most basic, these sought to magically protect the wearer. These are amulets as we recognise them today. Today's amulets can include religious icons like crosses or a star of David, any number of saints, including Saint Christopher medallions, and include special cornicello "little horn" amulets to protect from the Evil Eye which can be commonly purchased today in Naples.

Neapolitan cornicello amulet

In addition to these, amulets to protect homes have also been found, but in the case of the Evil Eye, you are more likely to come across mosaics, like these at entrances:

House of the Evil Eye in Antioch, 2nd century CE

Moknine, Tunisia, 3rd-4th century CE

One of the amulets I have been able to discuss in a forthcoming paper was a Byzantine amulet made from a "silvery copper" and was bought in a bazaar in Smyrna according to the original publisher (Gustav Schlumberger in 1892):  

Byzantine Evil Eye Amulet

This amulet contains very common iconography for warding off the evil eye. I was able to easily find numerous amulets online which used similar iconography:

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

a. CBd-2221 ⏤ Rome, Musei Capitolini. 

b. Cabinet des Medailles, Froehner,  135.

c. CBd-1073 ⏤ US_Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Library.
d. CBd-368 ⏤ FR Paris, Cabinet des Medailles.

e. ​CBd-1722 ⏤ DE_Hamburg, Skoluda Collection.

f. FIC.07.225 - Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum​
g. 1814,0704.1172 - British Museum.
⏤

Metal Byzantine amulets are relatively common, but they use an array of iconography apart from the Evil Eye, and the figure lying down is a feature of numerous amulets of this time and represents a demon. 

Making Ancient Evil Eye Amulets

These types of amulets seem to have been made in the same way as coins: using a set of dies. As a result, I decided to use the same technique, but using polymer clay. If you want to see how coins were minted in antiquity, this video shows an attempt to reproduce the method from start to finish, but does not show the making of the dies which stamp the image into the coins. 

I created my dies by cutting out a slab of polymer clay using a 20 cent piece as my size pattern. I then carved the images I wanted to appear on my amulets in reverse. I decided to use the και συ included in the mosaic from Antioch shown above, and something inspired by the Byzantine amulet above. I modelled these images into the soft clay and then sharpened the images a little once I had baked them. It is important to remember that you must carve the reverse of what you want to appear. If you have had experience in printmaking, this will come in handy; it did for me. 

Amulet dies

The writing was pretty easy, but getting these images small enough is really difficult. I chose a sword, trident, dagger, bird (ibis), centipede, snake, scorpion, and a lion, and added the Greek word φονος, underneath, strongly calling on the Schlumberger amulet. I should have written φθονος, the Greek word for envy, but φονος is a name for a late antique demon called "murder", so this isn't completely out of place. The artisans who created these dies were exactly that, artisans. Trying to create multiple elements which can be clearly recognised takes patients and skill. These artisans had to have had great eye sight and incredible engraving skills. Doing something like this makes you truly appreciate that fact. 

Once I had these I decided to make my amulets out of "silver" sculpey polymer clay. I say "silver" as this stuff looks more like lead with a bit of a silver content still in it, which I pretty awesome for making what I imagine was not a high end product. I used corn flour to prevent the raw clay sticking in my dies, but I promptly broke my και συ die when pressing it into the clay from the top. I re-enforced it, re-baked it and started again. I recall that there is evidence for the reuse of broken dies in antiquity, so I figured this was not out of place. I had to be careful when pulling the clay out of my intricate die. not every attempt was successful, but the bonus of clay is that you can knead it and try again. Everything considered, I am really happy with how these turned out.

Completed amulets 

I made ten thinking that that should give me enough to give to each attendee of the reading group. I have one left over which I intend to give to someone who could not make it owing to surgery, but I can make more anytime I want because I have these dies. I used red wool to allow people to attach or wear the amulet as red threads, including wool were commonly used on amulets; check out this interesting blog if you would like to know more. I also made some Hercules knots to act as a toggle on the lengths of wool, as this kind of knot was commonly represented in metal as a good luck charm. 

Completed amulet with thread

While working in a completely different medium, I found the process of making these quite informative. The skills of these creators were amazing. When looking at these metal amulets form the Byzantine period for my research, I came across one which had the inscription "The Seal of Solomon aid Joannes." If these were made using the die method as I suggest, I am now imagining the creation of amulets featuring common names, akin to the souvenir keychains we find in various tourist shops. 

The attendees either liked the amulets, or were polite enough to make approving sounds. If you decide to try make something like this and want a better silver finish, dust your amulet with a silver mica powder like Jacquard's Pearl Ex sliver; it will give a great silver finish.

Further Reading and Amulet Resources

If you have any interest in Graeco-Roman amulets, I highly recommend the Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database. (Freely available)

Dasen, Veronique, ‘Probaskania: Amulets and Magic in Antiquity, in J. Bremmer et D. Boschung (éds), The Materiality of Magic (Morphomata), Munich, 2015, 177-203. (Freely available)

Dickie, Matthew W. "Heliodorus and Plutarch on the Evil Eye." Classical Philology, 1991, vol. 86: 17-29.

Porstner, Laurie. "Boundaries, Magic and Popular Religion in two Mosaics from Ancient Thysdrus," 2020, New Classicists. (Freely available)

Ripat, Pauline. "Roman Women, Wise Women, and Witches." Phoenix, 2016, vol. 70: 104-28.

Schlumberger, Gustav. "AMULETTES BYZANTIS ANCIENS DESTINES A COMBATTRE LES MALEFICES & MALADIES." Revue des Etudes Greques, 1892, vol. 5: 73-93. (Freely available)

Vakaloudi, Anastasia D. "ΔΕΙΣΙΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΑ AND THE ROLE OF APOTROPAIC MAGIC IN THE EARLY BYZANTINE EMPIRE." Byzantion, 2000, vol. 70: 182-210. 

And I really do recommend "Red threads & amulets" from the University of Kent's Roman and Late Antique Artefacts from Egypt blog.

There are plenty more, but these are what I looked at when preparing my discussion.