The paper explores the dual relationship between envy and the eye. The eye is the instrument through which the envious person directs all the malice of their feelings towards the envied person, but, by a kind of reversal of the effect produced, its image is also one of the most powerful means of fighting envy. More specifically, the author analyses a particular category of artefacts and amulets (mosaics, gems, bratteae, reworked coins) representing the battle between the suffering eye and the so-called invidiae medici, i.e. animals capable of attacking it with their beaks, claws, venom, coils or pointed objects (trident, spears, lightning bolts) with which they can pierce it.
Perassi, C., MALUS OCULUS E INVIDIAE MEDICI: LA DOCUMENTAZIONE MATERIALE, in Carsana, C., Galimberti, A., Mecella, M. L. (ed.), L’INVIDIA SOCIALE NEL MONDO ELLENISTICO-ROMANO. Competizione, concorrenza, ambizioni, Edipuglia, Bari 2026: 125- 150 [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/331297]
MALUS OCULUS E INVIDIAE MEDICI: LA DOCUMENTAZIONE MATERIALE
Perassi, Claudia
2026
Abstract
The paper explores the dual relationship between envy and the eye. The eye is the instrument through which the envious person directs all the malice of their feelings towards the envied person, but, by a kind of reversal of the effect produced, its image is also one of the most powerful means of fighting envy. More specifically, the author analyses a particular category of artefacts and amulets (mosaics, gems, bratteae, reworked coins) representing the battle between the suffering eye and the so-called invidiae medici, i.e. animals capable of attacking it with their beaks, claws, venom, coils or pointed objects (trident, spears, lightning bolts) with which they can pierce it.
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