An eagle glides across the world, a scepter in one claw and his young in the other. In the clouds above them radiates the Eye of Providence, in Christendom usually interpreted as the all-seeing Eye of God. The Eye is always surrounded by rays of light or by a gloriole. The symbolism of an all-seeing eye can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus, which was worn as an amulet against the "evil eye" and against accidents in ancient Egypt. The same symbolism could still be found some thousand years later, for example among the Greeks, who applied apotropaic eyes to ward off evil on coins, cups, doors and so on. Even today, one can find the eye as protective symbol in different cultures around the Mediterranean, for instance painted on houses, walls and boats, or as pearls on bracelets, rings and key chains.