# Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992 > [!cite] > Thomsen, Marie-Louise. ‘The Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’. *Journal of Near Eastern Studies*, vol. 51, no. 1 (1992), pp. 19–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/545595. --- ‘That someone just by looking, through a kind of witchcraft or power of the eyes, may cause harm to another person, animal, or object seems to be an almost universal belief known as the evil eye.’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 19)]] ‘\[…] the belief originated in the Near East with the evolution of complex peasant-urban cultures and spread in all directions. It is statistically associated today with such features as plow \[sic] agriculture and dairying, as well as premodern urbanization.’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 20)]] ‘In the Near East today, eye imitations made of glass are worn as amulets against the evil eye. Beads resembling an eye or a pair of eyes are known from ancient Mesopotamia and are often understood as such amulets; the texts, however, prescribe other remedies.’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 26)]] ‘The seed of the azallû-plant : medication (against) the evil eye : that it should not approach a man, rub on in juniper oil.’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 27)]] ‘Although the evil eye, like witchcraft, was the work of human beings, its effects were generally thought to be of a more harmless character. It belonged to everyday annoyances but was not really dangerous since, usually, it did not affect the health of the person. This may be the reason for the absence of rituals against the evil eye. It was simply not serious enough to demand a place among the important incantation series \[…].’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 28)]] Although the evil eye is connected with witchcraft in ancient Mesopotamia, ‘witches are rarely accused of looking at their victims’. [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 28)]] ‘ \[…] whereas witchcraft most often resulted in conflicts with family and neighbors, serious illness, or even death,13 the effects of the evil eye seem to be somewhat different. In TCL 16, 89 and BL, no. 3, they are described as accidents, situations which might happen to anyone at any time: it rains too little, the cheese-making goes wrong, a tool breaks, clothes are torn, and the like.’ [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 22)]] The small number of references to the evil eye (amongst an otherwise enormous number of incantations and ritual texts) might suggest that belief in the evil eye wasn’t all that widespread in ancient Mesopotamia. On the other hand, it is also possible that it *was* widespread—but just not that big a deal. [[Thomsen, ‘Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’, 1992|(Thomsen 1992, 28)]]