Description

In Volume 2 of Beware the Evil Eye, John H. Elliott addresses the most extensivesources of Evil Eye belief in antiquity: the cultures of Greece and Rome. In thisperiod, 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.John H. Elliott is Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of “Conflict, Community, and Honor” (2007).“John H. Elliot’s Beware the Evil Eye is a monumental achievement. A work of devoted and painstaking research focused on Greece and Rome, Volume 2 provides detailed analysis of the ancient folkloric belief in the Evil Eye. This is the work of a brilliant intellect who has given us the last scholarly word on this perplexing ancient belief. The book is essential reading for anthropologists, biblical and classical scholars, medievalists, folklorists, and art historians. No one will have anything to add to this conversation for the imaginable future.” Brenda Deen Schildgen, Distinguished Professor Comparative Literature, UC Davis“ ‘Beware the Evil Eye is a wonderful, comprehensive work of scholarship. Easy to read and erudite, Beware the Evil Eye is destined to become the definitive source text for anyone interested in the origins, spread and nature of this widespread human belief complex.” Fiona Bowie, King’s College London, author of The Anthropology of Religion.