From the Sumerians and Mesopotamians to the Middle East, on to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Europe, Africa, and India, and eventually the Americas, the concept of the evil eye refers to the belief that one person may cause harm or misfortune to another through their evil gaze or evil glance. Intense jealousy and envy are perceived as potent forces that could bring about illness, calamity, or even death when concentrated into a single venomous ray of vindictive intent. Various cultures believed the evil eye was attributable to humans, animals, demons, or gods, and that an evil spell could be cast on anything or anyone looked upon by the enchanter. An affected individual may not suspect the evil eye until disaster befalls them, and sometimes a person might even cast the evil eye unintentionally.

The dread of such dark power has led people to take measures to protect themselves, their families, and their belongings from the evil eye’s perceived harmful effects. These items are intended to ward off bad luck and negative energy associated with the curse of the evil eye.

Eye cups, drinking vessels produced in ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago, were thought to act as a symbol of protection. When a person drank from their eye cup, a set of eyes painted on the vessel would stare out at everyone around them, causing any possible evil eye to bounce back onto the sender. Older still were Phoenician clay beads, dating back 3,500 years ago. They were shaped like eyes that stared day and night at whoever wore them. Later, with the invention of glass, blue evil-eye glass amulets proliferated....