I wonder how they came up with these gods of theirs?
Was the Wadjet eye the reason they painted their eyes like that with Kohl? Did they think it protected them?
Most likely.
There’s a reference in Herodotus about how the Egyptians used crocodile dung (this is what the Egyptians told him) for *eye ailments*. In the de Selincourt translation there’s a footnote about this, noting that in modern times, croc poop is found to have a naturally occurring antibiotic. :^) My wild guess is, the Egyptians didn’t have any idea about antibiotics, and merely tried this because of reverence (fear) of the crocodile, and maybe superstitiously made the eye connection (which really seems to make no sense at all) because the crocs have eyes like periscopes while waiting like a submarine for an unsuspecting meal to come along.
Egyptians painted their eyes because they didn’t have sunglasses and the make-up had anti-bionics that kept down eye disease from Nile Water that carried all the illnesses of Africa—then as now. They would be wise to do it now as eye diseases are common in modern Egypt. So, yes, it did protect them.