Timeline

Extramission Theory of Vision

The extramission theory of vision—the idea that the eyes emit rays or a form of light to perceive the world—was widely accepted in ancient thought and appears in various literary and philosophical traditions. Greek thinkers like Plato and Euclid supported versions of this theory, and it influenced medical and optical theories for centuries. In biblical texts, echoes of this concept can be found in passages that describe the eyes as sources of light or radiance.

Timeline

1. 600–201 BCE
  
  Psalms 38:10
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. 9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire; my groaning is not hidden from you. 10 My heart beats quickly; my strength leaves me. The light of my eyes is not with me. 11 Because of my condition, even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; my neighbors stand far away. 12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; those who want to harm me speak destructive words. All day long they say deceitful things.
1. 600–201 BCE
  
  Proverbs 29:13
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  11 A fool lets fly with all his temper, but a wise person keeps it back. 12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his ministers will be wicked. 13 The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives light to the eyes of them both. 14 If a king judges the poor in truth, his throne will be established forever. 15 A rod and reproof impart wisdom, but a child who is unrestrained brings shame to his mother.
1. 360 BCE
  
  Plato, Timaeus 45b
  
  Classical
  
  Thus it was necessary that man should have the forepart of his body distinct and dissimilar. Wherefore, dealing first with the vessel of the head, they set the face in the front thereof and bound within it organs for all the forethought of the Soul; and they ordained that this, which is the natural front, should be the leading part. And of the organs they constructed first light-bearing eyes, and these they fixed in the face for the reason following. They contrived that all such fire as had the property not of burning but of giving a mild light should form a body akin to the light of every day. For they caused the pure fire within us, which is akin to that of day, to flow through the eyes in a smooth and dense stream; and they compressed the whole substance, and especially the center, of the eyes, so that they occluded all other fire that was coarser and allowed only this pure kind of fire to filter through. So whenever the stream of vision is surrounded by midday light, it flows out like unto like, and coalescing therewith it forms one kindred substance along the path of the eyes’ vision, wheresoever the fire which streams from within collides with an obstructing object without.
1. 300 BCE – 100 CE
  
  1 Enoch 106:2
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
  
  1 After some days my son Methuselah found a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 2 His body was white like snow and red like a blooming rose. The hair on his head and his long curls were white like wool, and his eyes were beautiful. When he opened his eyes, he lit the whole house like the sun, and the house shone brightly. 3 Then he rose up in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and spoke with the Lord of righteousness. 4 His father Lamech was afraid of him and ran away, coming to his father Methuselah. 5 He said to him: “I have fathered a strange son, different from any human, resembling the sons of the God of heaven. His nature is different, and he is not like us. His eyes are like rays of the sun, and his face is glorious. 6 It seems to me that he was not born from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days something extraordinary may happen on the earth. 7 Now, my father, I am asking you to go to Enoch, our father, and learn the truth from him, for he lives among the angels.” 8 When Methuselah heard his son’s words, he came to me at the ends of the earth, for he had heard I was there. He cried out, and I heard his voice and came to him. And I said to him: “Here I am, my son. Why have you come to me?”
1. 225–175 BCE
  
  Tobit 10:5
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  4 And Anna his wife says, My child has perished, and is no longer among the living; and she began to weep and bewail her son, and said, 5 Woe is me, my child, that I let you go, the light of my eyes. 6 And Tobit kept saying to her, Hold your peace, do not be troubled, sister, he is in good health; doubtless some distracting business has befallen them there; and the man who went with him is trusty and one of our kindred; do not grieve for him, sister, soon he will be here.
1. 200–101 BCE
  
  Daniel 10:6
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was beside the great river, the Tigris. 5 I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen; around his waist was a belt made of gold from Ufaz. 6 His body resembled yellow jasper, and his face had an appearance like lightning. His eyes were like blazing torches; his arms and feet had the gleam of polished bronze. His voice thundered forth like the sound of a large crowd. 7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men who were with me did not see it. On the contrary, they were overcome with fright and ran away to hide. 8 I alone was left to see this great vision. My strength drained from me, and my vigor disappeared; I was without energy.
1. 195–180 BCE
  
  Sirach 23:19
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  17 All bread is sweet to a fornicator. He will not cease until he dies. 18 A man who goes astray from his own marriage bed says in his heart, “Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me. No one sees me. Of whom am I afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins.” 19 The eyes of men are his terror. He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, seeing all the ways of men, and looking into secret places. 20 All things were known to him before they were created, and also after they were completed.
1. 100 BCE – 175 CE
  
  Apocalypse of Zephaniah 6:11
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
  
  10 I could not stand, and I began to pray before the Lord Almighty: "You will rescue me from this distress, you who rescued Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. You rescued Susanna from the hand of the wicked elders. You rescued the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, from the blazing, fiery furnace. I beg you to rescue me too from this distress." 11 Then I got up and stood, and I saw a great angel standing in front of me. His face shone like the rays of the sun in its glory, and his face was like the face of one filled with his glory. 12 He wore what looked like a golden belt around his chest, and his feet were like brass glowing in the fire.
1. 100 BCE – 100 CE
  
  Testament of Dan 2:4
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Testaments
  
  3 Whether it is a father or mother, he treats them as enemies; whether a brother, he no longer recognizes him; whether a prophet of the Lord, he disobeys him; whether a righteous man, he ignores him; whether a friend, he refuses to acknowledge him. 4 For the spirit of anger entangles him in a web of lies, blinds his eyes, darkens his mind with falsehood, and forces its own distorted vision upon him. 5 And how does it blind his eyes? By filling his heart with hatred, so that he grows envious of his own brother.
1. 1–100 CE
  
  2 Enoch 1:5
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
  
  4 And two men appeared to me, so enormous that I had never seen anyone like them on earth; 5 their faces were shining like the sun, their eyes too were like a burning light, and from their lips fire was coming out with clothing and singing of various kinds purple in appearance, their wings were brighter than gold, their hands whiter than snow. They were standing at the head of my couch and began to call me by my name.
1. 1–100 CE
  
  2 Enoch 39:4
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
  
  3 For the Lord has let me come to you, so hear the words of my lips, of a man made big for you, but I am one who has seen the Lord's face, like iron made to glow from fire it sends out sparks and burns. 4 You now look at my eyes, the eyes of a man big with meaning for you, but I have seen the Lord's eyes, shining like the sun's rays and filling the eyes of man with awe. 5 You see now, my children, the right hand of a man that helps you, but I have seen the Lord's right hand filling heaven as he helped me. 6 You see the scope of my work like your own, but I have seen the Lord's limitless and perfect scope, which has no end.
1. 20–50 CE
  
  Philo, On Abraham 1:150
  
  Classical
  
  150 But two of these outward senses have something philosophical and preeminent in them, namely, sight and hearing. But the ears are somewhat slower and more effeminate than the eyes, since the latter go with promptness and courage to what is to be seen, and do not wait until the objects themselves are in motion, but go forward to meet them, and desire to move themselves so as to face them. But the sense of hearing, since it is slower and more effeminate, may be ranked second, and the sense of seeing may be allowed a special pre-eminence and privilege: for God has made this sense a sort of queen of the rest, placing it above them all, and, stationing it as it were on a citadel, has made it of all the senses the most closely connected with the soul;
1. 48–55 CE
  
  Galatians 3:1
  
  New Testament
  
  1 You foolish Galatians! Who has given you the evil eye? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
1. 70–90 CE
  
  Matthew 6:22
  
  New Testament
  
  20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and devouring insect do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
1. 70–90 CE
  
  Matthew 6:23
  
  New Testament
  
  21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
1. 77 CE
  
  Pliny the Elder, Pliny Natural History 7.2.16
  
  Classical
  
  Isigonus and Nymphodorus inform us that there are in Africa certain families of enchanters, who, by means of their charms, in the form of commendations, can cause cattle to perish, trees to wither, and infants to die. Isigonus adds, that there are among the Triballi and the Illyrii, some persons of this description, who also have the power of fascination with the eyes, and can even kill those on whom they fix their gaze for any length of time, more especially if their look denotes anger; the age of puberty is said to be particularly obnoxious to the malign influence of such persons.
1. 92–96 CE
  
  Revelation 1:14
  
  New Testament
  
  13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
1. 100 CE
  
  Joseph and Aseneth 14:9
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
  
  7 And he said: "I am the supreme commander of the Lord God and commander of the whole army of the Most High: stand up and stand on your feet, so that I may speak my words to you." 8 And she lifted up her face and saw, and look, a man like Joseph in every way, with a robe, a wreath, and a royal staff, 9 except that his face was like lightning, and his eyes like the light of the sun, and the hair of his head like the flame of a burning torch, and his hands and his feet like iron glowing from the fire, for what seemed like sparks came from both his hands and his feet. 10 Seeing these things Asenath was afraid and fell on her face, unable even to stand on her feet, for she became greatly afraid and all her limbs trembled.