The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

IV PHALLIC EMBLEMS 153
very different is worn by the babies in Naples and
Southern Italy.
In making purchases of this and of the many
other charms in the writer's possession, it has always
been his practice to inquire of the seller what was
the object of the article. In every case the answer
has been the same— " Contra malocchia' in Rome ;
'' Co7itra la jettatiLra' in Naples.
! The antiquity of the phallus as an amulet is
shown by the number found among Egyptian sculp-
tures. No visitor to Egyptian antiquities needs to
be told this. Indeed, it was held to have been
consecrated by Isis herself."^^ "ffrie phallus was the
most sacred amulet worn by the vestal virgins of
ancient RomeT^ Moreover, we find that Sesostris
of the early twelfth dynasty, who conquered Asia,
set up memorials of a phallic nature among the
people who had acted bravely, but among the degenerate,
female emblems engraved on stelcB were
set up.^ Who shall say these objects may not
have been the origin of those still to be found so
universally throughout India ? In the ruins of
Zimbabwe, in Central Africa, are to be seen phalli
carved upon stone, similar to those found in Sardinia,
which are said to be Phoenician.^^^ The like have
been seen by the writer on the so-called Phoenician
ruins of Hajar Khem in Malta. Again, numbers of
phallic amulets in bronze are found in the earliest
Etruscan tombs as well as in the museums of the
Collegio Romano, of Cortona and of Bologna, marked
252 Wilkinson, iii. p. 77.
253 Smith's Did. of the Bible, s.v. "Fascinum."
254 Wilkinson, op. cit. i. p. 20.
255 Bent, Ruined Cities of Mashonalatid. Perrot and Chipiez, History of
Art in Sardinia, p. 57. Spectator, November 26, 1892.
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