The History of the Evil Eye Across 15 Cultures

Belief in the evil eye — the idea that envy or malice transmitted through a look can cause real harm — appears independently across an unusually wide span of human cultures, from ancient Sumer to modern Brazil. Rather than covering the general concept again, this piece takes fifteen specific cultures one at a time, with what's actually documented about each society's version of the belief and its remedy.

Ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt

The earliest documented references to a harmful gaze appear in Sumerian and Akkadian texts, with incantations against the 'evil eye' recorded on cuneiform tablets dating back roughly 5,000 years, making this among the oldest continuously attested superstitions in the historical record. Ancient Egyptian religion, meanwhile, developed the wedjat — the eye of Horus — as a protective symbol used on amulets, jewellery, and coffins, functioning partly as a general ward against harm including envious or hostile looks, though the wedjat's symbolism is broader than the evil eye specifically, tied closely to healing and royal protection through the myth of Horus's eye being restored by Thoth.

Ancient Greece and ancient Rome

The Greeks had a specific term, baskania, for the evil eye, and Plutarch discussed the belief seriously enough to devote a section of his Moralia to debating possible physical mechanisms behind it. The Romans used the term fascinatio (the root of the English word 'fascinate,' originally meaning to be bewitched or hexed) and employed a specific counter-symbol: the fascinus, a phallic amulet worn by children and soldiers, on the belief that the image would draw and absorb the harmful gaze away from the wearer — a strikingly different remedy from the eye-shaped amulets more familiar today.

Turkey

Modern Turkey has arguably the most visible living evil-eye culture in the world. The nazar boncuğu — the blue-white-blue glass eye bead — is genuinely everywhere: hung above doorways, pinned to babies' clothing, dangling from rearview mirrors, and even affixed to newly completed buildings and bridges. Turkish tradition also holds that a nazar that cracks has absorbed a curse meant for its wearer and should be replaced, not repaired.

Greece

In Greece the evil eye is called mati, and the belief remains active enough that a specific diagnostic-and-removal ritual, xematiasma, is still practised, typically by an older female relative who knows a secret prayer passed down within families (traditionally not to be taught to more than one person of each gender per generation). A common home test involves dropping olive oil into a glass of water — if the oil disperses rather than staying beaded, it's taken as confirmation the person has been affected.

Italy

Southern Italy's version, malocchio, comes with its own diagnostic ritual using oil and water similar to the Greek practice, and its own gestural counter-charm: the cornicello, a twisted horn-shaped amulet (traditionally red), along with the mano cornuto hand gesture (index and pinky extended) used to ward off the curse in the moment. Italian-American communities, particularly in the Northeast United States, kept malocchio belief and remedies alive well into the 20th century.

The Jewish tradition (ayin hara)

In Jewish folk tradition, the evil eye is ayin hara, and it comes with a linked verbal practice rather than only an amulet-based one: the custom of avoiding excessive praise of a person, child, or possession without qualifying it (saying 'kein ayin hara,' roughly 'no evil eye,' after a compliment), on the belief that unguarded praise itself can attract envy and harm. The hamsa, discussed at length elsewhere on this site, is a major protective object within this tradition, sometimes called the Hand of Miriam.

The Islamic tradition (al-ayn)

Islamic tradition addresses the evil eye (al-ayn) directly within religious text — it's referenced in the Quran and hadith literature, and the practice of reciting specific protective verses (particularly Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas) is a standard, widely taught defence. The verbal custom of saying 'mashallah' ('what God has willed') when admiring something is specifically meant to prevent one's own admiration from carrying envy, making it both a politeness norm and a protective practice at once.

Iran and the broader Persian world

Persian tradition (cheshm zakhm, 'eye-wound') uses a specific incense-based remedy alongside the more familiar blue-eye amulets shared with neighbouring Turkey: burning a mix of wild rue seeds (esfand) while reciting a protective phrase, with the crackling sound of the seeds in the fire taken as part of the ritual's effectiveness. The blue nazar-style bead is also common throughout Iran, showing the belief's overlap with neighbouring Turkish and broader Middle Eastern practice.

India and South Asia

Across much of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, the evil eye is known by various regional names (nazar in Hindi/Urdu, drishti in some southern Indian traditions) and the classic protective mark is a small dot of black kohl dabbed near a baby's eye or hairline — introducing a deliberate cosmetic 'flaw' so the child doesn't appear too perfect and invite envious attention. Shops and homes commonly hang a string of green chillies with a lemon (nimbu-mirchi) in the doorway as an ongoing protective charm, a remedy distinct from the glass-bead traditions further west.

Mexico and Latin America

In Mexico and across much of Latin America, the evil eye is mal de ojo, most often discussed in relation to infants and young children, who are considered especially vulnerable. The primary diagnostic-and-removal ritual, the limpia con huevo, involves an egg run in a cross shape across the child's body while a healer recites specific prayers, followed by cracking that same egg into a glass of water and reading the resulting shapes to confirm whether the curse was present and has now lifted. Red bracelets or ribbons (often incorporating an ojo de venado, a deer's-eye seed) are also used as ongoing protection for children.

Brazil

Brazilian tradition (mau-olhado or olho gordo, literally 'fat eye,' referring to greedy or excessive attention) shows strong Portuguese colonial-era and West African influence layered together, reflecting Brazil's specific colonial history. Figa amulets — a clenched fist with the thumb between the index and middle fingers, a gesture with roots in ancient Roman and Mediterranean apotropaic practice — are a widely recognised protective charm distinct from the eye-shaped amulets more common further east.

Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa

Evil-eye belief (buda in Amharic, associated in some regional traditions specifically with certain artisan castes believed to possess the ability, a belief scholars note reflects historical social tensions around craft groups) is documented in Ethiopian folk religion with its own protective practices, including specific amulets and, in Ethiopian Orthodox Christian practice, blessed items and prayers used alongside older folk remedies — an example of the evil eye belief persisting within, rather than being replaced by, a Christian religious framework.

The Philippines

Filipino usog (sometimes distinguished from the related but separate belief in buyag) refers specifically to a stranger's greeting or attention causing illness in a child, often with symptoms like sudden fever or crying. The most distinctive remedy is that the person believed to have caused the usog is asked to touch the affected child (often licking a finger and touching it to the child's stomach or forehead) as an antidote — a remedy requiring the specific person's participation, unlike most of the ritual removals used elsewhere.

What the spread actually tells us

Fifteen cultures, and the pattern that emerges isn't one belief spreading by trade and contact alone (though Mediterranean and Middle Eastern versions clearly share influence) — it's a belief that appears to have arisen semi-independently in unconnected regions, arriving at strikingly similar conclusions: envy is dangerous, children are especially vulnerable, and specific ritual or amulet-based responses can counter it. Anthropologists studying the evil eye complex generally treat this near-universality as evidence that it responds to a genuinely common human anxiety — the discomfort of being watched, admired, or resented — rather than a single point of origin that spread everywhere. Whatever the underlying explanation, few beliefs have proven this durable across this much of the inhabited world.