Gli antichi e la glaukophthalmia: nuovi dati per la storia di un ‘inestetismo’ mediterraneo

Abstract

Among the most curious aspects of the ancient world there is the contempt for blue eyes, which is far from nowadays conception of beauty. This article aims to retrace the ancient perception of this physical trait, showing how it was also associated with the ability to cast the evil eye. Having the so-called ὄμμα γλαυκόν was considered a real imperfection, so people often tried to correct it with particular medicines, such as those suggested by Galen in the fourth book of De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos libri X. The contempt for blue eyes also results from physiognomic treatises and other writings in which this physical trait is associated with certain characteristics of the person who wears it: for example, Hephaestion of Thebes notes that the glaucous iris is found mostly in those with blond or red hair. This belief is also attested in Latin sources like Tacitus's De origine et situ Germanorum, in which blue eyes and red hair are considered typical characteristics of the Germans. In this article some attention is also paid to the terms used in Greek and Latin to indicate the glaucous iris, underlining the link with the goddess Athena, defined γλαυκῶπις. After examining the ancient evidence, some survivals of this belief are mentioned, referring to the Arab world and modern Greece, in which the perception of the glaucous eye recurs as a negative element.