A common set of shared assumptions about the causes of evil and how to avert it are found in a form of early

protective magic called incantation bowl or magic bowls. The bowls were produced
in the Middle East, particularly in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria, what is now Iraq and Iran, and fairly popular during the sixth to eighth centuries.[45][46] The bowls were buried face down and were
meant to capture demons. They were commonly placed under the threshold, courtyards, in the corner of the homes of the recently deceased and in cemeteries.[47] A subcategory of incantation
bowls are those used in Jewish magical practice. Aramaic incantation bowls are an important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices. [48][49][50][51][52]

Egypt[edit]

Ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus amulet

In ancient Egypt (Kemet in the Egyptian language), Magic (personified as the god heka) was an integral part of religion and culture which is known to us through a substantial corpus of texts
which are products of the Egyptian tradition.[53]

While the category magic has been contentious for modern Egyptology, there is clear support for its applicability from ancient terminology. [54] The Coptic term hik is the descendant of the
pharaonic term heka, which, unlike its Coptic counterpart, had no connotation of impiety or illegality, and is attested from the Old Kingdom through to the Roman era. [54] heka was considered
morally neutral and was applied to the practices and beliefs of both foreigners and Egyptians alike. [55] The Instructions for Merikare informs us that heka was a beneficence gifted by the creator
to humanity "... in order to be weapons to ward off the blow of events".[56]

Magic was practiced by both the literate priestly hierarchy and by illiterate farmers and herdsmen, and the principle of heka underlay all ritual activity, both in the temples and in private settings.
[57]

The main principle of heka is centered on the power of words to bring things into being.[58]: 54  Karenga[59] explains the pivotal power of words and their vital ontological role as the primary tool used
by the creator to bring the manifest world into being. Because humans were understood to share a divine nature with the gods, snnw ntr (images of the god), the same power to use words
creatively that the gods have is shared by humans.[60]