Basilisk
The basilisk, (sometimes refered to as a Cockatrice), is a mythological creature, most often depicted as a reptile, and is reputed to be king of serpents. One of the most feared of all mythological beasts, a basilisk is said to have the power of causing death by a single glance. Basilisk is also the name of a genus of small lizards, (family Corytophanidae). The Green Basilisk, also called plumed basilisk, is often called the "Jesus lizard" for its ability to run across the surface of water.
Etymology
The word basilisk in English language stems from the Greek βασιλίσκος basiliskos, which translates as "a kinglet, a kind of serpent". . In Latin, the creature is basiliscus, and in French, it is basilique, both of which influenced the eventual Anglicization of the word, into basilisk.[1]
The etymology of the term cockatrice is more convoluted; appearing in many of the Classical and Early languages of Europe, the Old French cocatris, was adopted into Middle English as cocatrice, and eventually evolved into the modern cockatrice.[2] Although the two terms may not be mutual exclusive, both are commonly used to describe, if not the same creature, then two creatures of pronounced similarity.
Description
There are three descriptions to the image of the basilisk: a huge lizard, a giant snake, or a conglomerate of a reptile and rooster, often with the head, plumage and front legs of the rooster, and a repitilian tail, and sometimes scaly wings (This last form is often the one described as a cockatrice). The abilities of a basilisk are just as diverse; its ability to kill any living creature simply by gazing into the eyes of its prey is almost universal, but some attribute such other fearsome traits as the ability to breath fire (much like a dragon), the lethal venom it can deliver through a bite, and the ability to fly. It is almost always assumed to be extremely hostile and a fierce predator, and is often looked upon with dread, a creature of pure evil. The basilisk is fabulously alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent (the reverse of the cockatrice, which was hatched from a hen's egg incubated by a serpent's nest).
According to some legends, basilisks can be killed by hearing the crow of a rooster or gazing at itself through a mirror. Its natural enemy is often said to be the weasel, who is immune to its deathly gaze, and/or venom.[3]
Origin
Some have speculated a euhemeristic explanation for the basilisk, in particular that reports of cobras may have given birth to the stories of the monster. Cobras can maintain an upright posture, and, as with many snakes in overlapping territories, is often killed by mongooses. The king cobra or Hamadryad has a crownlike symbol on its head. Another family of eleven species of cobras can incapacitate from a distance by spitting venom, and may well have been confused by similar appearance with the Hamadryad. The Egyptian cobra lives in the desert and was used as a symbol of royalty.[4]
One of the earliest accounts of the basilisk comes from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, written in roughly 79 C.E. He describes the catoblepas, a monstrous cow-like creature to whom "there is not one that looketh upon his eyes, but hee dyeth presently."[5] Author Bede was the first to acknowledge the legend how a basilisk gets born from an egg by an old rooster, then other authors added the condition of the constellation Sirius being ascendant in the sky at the time. Isidore of Seville defined the basilisk as the king of snakes, which dare him for his dangerous glare and its poisonous breath. Alexander Neckham was the first to say that not the glare but the "air corruption" was the killing tool of the basilisk, a theory developed one century later by Pietro d'Abano. Albertus Magnus in the De animalibus wrote about the killing gaze of the basilisk, but he denied other legends, such as the rooster hatching the egg. He gave as source of those legends Hermes Trismegistus, who is credited also as the creator of the story about the basilisk's ashes being able to convert silver into gold: the attribution is absolutely incorrect, but it shows how the legends of the basilisk were already linked to alchemy in XIII century.[6]
Leonardo da Vinci included a basilisk in his Bestiary, saying it is so utterly cruel that when it cannot kill animals by its baleful gaze, it turns upon herbs and plants, and fixing its gaze on them withers them up.
Literary references
Geoffrey Chaucer featured a basilicok (as he called it) in his Canterbury Tales.
In Richard III, William Shakespeare had a widow, on hearing the compliments to her eyes from her husband's brother and murderer, retort that she wishes they were a basilisk's, to kill him.[7] Percy Bysshe Shelley in his "Ode to Naples" alludes to the basilisk:
- Be thou like the imperial basilisk, Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds! Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk, Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk. Fear not, but gaze,- for freemen mightier grow, And slaves more feeble, gazing on their foe.
A basilisk is mentioned in the chapter XVI of The Zadig by Voltaire.
A basilisk's look is mentioned in the 4th chapter of Dracula when the main character makes his first attempt to kill Count Dracula.
In the second Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, author J.K. Rowling employs a basilisk as the creature contained within the legendary Chamber of Secrets. This basilisk is in the form of a giant serpent who can kill by looking victims in the eyes.
Usage in modern fantasy
- For basilisks in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, see Basilisk (Dungeons & Dragons).
Basilisks have been re-imagined and employed in modern fantasy fiction for books, movies, and role-playing games, with wide variations on the powers and weaknesses attributed to them.
Notes
- ↑ (1971) "The Oxford English Dictionary" Oxford Press, ISBN 019861117X
- ↑ (1971) "The Oxford English Dictionary" Oxford Press, ISBN 019861117X
- ↑ (2005) Lindemans, Micha F. ["Basilisk"] Retrieved August 15, 2007
- ↑ (1979) Costello, Peter "The Magic Zoo: The Natural History of Fabulous Animals" St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312504217
- ↑ Philomon Holland (translator) (1601). The Historie of the World Booke VIII. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
- ↑ (1979) Costello, Peter "The Magic Zoo: The Natural History of Fabulous Animals" St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312504217
- ↑ David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, p 36, ISBN 0-9708442-0-4
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- (Italian) Il sacro artefice, Paolo Galloni, Laterza, Bari 1998 (about the hystorical background of basiliscus during the Middle Ages).
External links
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