A 2500-year-old «talisman» protected ships from the evil eye
A rare 2500-year-old marble disc, designed to protect ancient ships and protect against the evil eye, was recently discovered in the Mediterranean sea near Israeli Palmachim beach.
The 2,500-year-old marble disc, meant to protect ancient ships and ward off the evil eye, was discovered by lifeguard David Shalom diving into the sea and handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Some time ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on social media that the object the lifeguard turned over was a 2,500-year-old marble eye-shaped disk that was attached to ships to protect against the evil eye.
Experts say the relic, found during a dive by lifeguard David Shalom at the archaeological site of Yavne Yam near Palmachim Beach, dates back to the 5th-4th centuries BC.
Yaakov Sharvit, director of maritime archeology at the Israel Antiquities Authority, explains: “From the drawings on ceramics, mosaics and ancient coins, as well as from historical sources from the 5th century BC, we learn that these objects were common on the bows of ships and served to protect against evil eye and envious, helped to navigate and acted as a pair of eyes looking ahead and warning of danger. This decoration is still common on modern ships in Portugal, Malta, Greece, and the Far East.”
According to Archeology World, the large white marble disc, 20 cm in diameter, is flat on one side and curved on the other side. the other, and it has a central cavity with traces of paint that show up as two circles around the center.
The disk is identified as having an eye motif, Greek for «ophthalmoi», and such disks adorned the prows of ancient warships and merchant ships.
Lead or bronze nails attached the center of the disk to the ship's hull. Archaeologists have discovered many artifacts in the same area.
While this artifact was once common and one would expect to find many such artifacts, it is actually rare, experts say. So far, only four such ancient objects have been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea: two from the wreckage of an ancient merchant ship found at the Tektas Burnu site off the western coast of Turkey, between the islands of Samos and Kios, dating back to 440-425 BC, and two on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, one from Carmel Beach and another, just discovered, on the coast of Yavne Yam.
Water surveys conducted by the Department of Marine Archeology of the Israel Antiquities Authority since the 1980s have unearthed finds from shipwrecked ships, testifying to the extensive commercial activity at this place.