SUPERNUMERARY EYES AND MANS SEARCH FOR HYPER-VISION - A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF RELEVANT REPRESENTATIONAL ARTS

In this paper we present examples of man's identification of superiori ty with visual hyper-efficiency. From Babylonian, Egyptian, Minoan and Biblical times, the eye was the symbol of the master or the inspector . Similarly, a being or deity that was endowed with multiple eyes - wi th or without multiple heads - was considered to be extra powerful. An example is the crest of the British College of Optometrists, which is surmounted by a bird with three heads and hence supernumerary eyes, l inking it to the College's motto 'aequis oculis videre' denoting equal vision. We present here photographic and textual data from several hi storical periods extending from the fourth millenniUM BC to the sixtee nth century AD; and from different religious sources, both Christian a nd non-Christian, to support this thesis. However, there are only a fe w examples, selected from a larger on-going study of the subject.