The erection, representation, display and use of often grotesque figures and objects to protect against or ward off misfortune, thieves, enemies, sorcery, witchcraft, evil spirits, bad luck or the Evil Eye...which might be, or be induced by, envy.

At Leptis Magna in Syria a doubly-apotropaic sculpture has been unearthed: a bull-legged phallus whose penis is squirting semen into (blinding) a vaginesque Evil Eye which is carrying or being devoured by a ?scorpion.

photo by Sacha Coachman

The simplest examples in Nature are protective false eyes, whose forerunners in evolution were the eye-spots developed by some hexapods to encourage predators to think they were being watched by their quarry.

By far the oldest (universal) human behaviour patterns and displays are the protective hand, beard display, breast presentation, pulling a face or mouth-pulling, genital and pubic display, arse-display, presentation of a grotesque mask, milk-squirting, erection of 'sentinel' or guardian figures, and sticking out the tongue.

Some links:

https://www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/phallus-evil-eye/

https://robin-de-puy-american.wetransfer.com/episode/10

Protecting_the_Troops_Phallic_Carvings_i.pdf

updated June 2025