The Basilisk

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The Basilisk

The word Ð''basilisk' is from the Greek basiliskos meaning "little king". The word does not seem to come from ancient Greek, but from Pliny's Natural History which was written in Rome in 77 AD. Pliny mentions sixty references and describes the Basilisk:

"It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than twelve inches long, and adorned with a bright white marking on the head like a sort of diadem. It routs all snakes with its hiss, and does not move its body forward in manifold coils like the other snakes but advancing with its middle raised high.

Figure 1: Pliny's version of the Basilisk

It kills all plants by its touch and also by its breath. Its effect on other animals is deadly." It is believed that once one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection rising through the spear rising not only the rider but also the horse. Yet

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to a creature so marvelous as this (Webhome 1, 2, 3). The story of the birth of the basilisk is found in a third century translation of the Bible. Isaiah 59:5 reads, "They break the eggs of asps and weave the spider's web; he who would eat their eggs, having crushed the wind egg finds in it a basilisk."

The later King James Version says "They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." Psalm 91 of the King James Version of the bible later calls the Basilisk an "adder". During the medieval era the traveling and wandering populace told stories of the basilisk. It was first mentioned in writing in 1180. The basilisk was no doubt the deadliest creature of that era (Pinney 2). Even though it was purely legendary (Pinney 1). This creature is born from a cocks egg and hatched under a toad or a snake.

The basilisk was deadly in every aspect, it's glare would kill any man even if seen through or in a reflection of another object the man would become petrified like stone, this is why a snake atop Medusas head was believed to be a basilisk. The venom in its fangs kills instantly. The story of the birth of the basilisk is found in a third century translation of the Bible. Isaiah 59:5 reads, "They break the eggs of asps and weave the spider's web; he who would eat their eggs, having crushed the wind egg finds in it a basilisk.". In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales "The Parson's Tale" it was referred to as a cockatrice, thus picking up the attributes of a cock and getting bigger and deadlier. Just its appearance is so dreadful that if it could see itself in a mirror it would burst apart with horror and fear (Litrix 1). During the Renaissance, scholars and naturalists began to say that the Basilisk was probably not real. A weasel, the only creature brave enough to take

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on the basilisk, by a rooster crowing, could only vanquish the basilisk or by seeing