Basilisk

Cityseal of Zwolle from 1295 with Saint-Michael killing a basilisk

The basilisk, (sometimes referred to as a Cockatrice), is a mythical 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.

Etymology

Cock-Basilisk

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.

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. 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 of the basilisk: a huge lizard, a giant snake, or a composite of a reptile and rooster, often with the head, plumage, and front legs of the rooster, and a reptilian 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.

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.

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 in 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.

Origin

Ice sculpture of a basilisk, Basel 2005

Some have speculated that reports of cobras may have given birth to the stories of the monster basilisk. Cobras can maintain an upright posture, and, as with many snakes in overlapping territories, is often killed by the mongoose. The king cobra or Hamadryad has a crown-like symbol on its head. Another family of eleven species of cobras can incapacitate prey 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.

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." Pliny describes the basilisk as having the same power as the catoblepas:

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. It kills bushes not only by its touch but also by its breath, scorches up grass and bursts rocks. Its effect on other animals is disastrous; it is believed that once one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection rising through the spear killed not only the rider but also the horse.

Author Bede was the first to acknowledge the legend of how a basilisk is 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 the thirteenth century.

Symbolism

Basilisk slain by the archangel Michael, in Munich

The basilisk has been symbolic in the Western world almost since its creation. In alchemy, it played dualistic roles, either representing the powerfully destructive force of fire, which can break down and cleanse elements, or the immortalizing tonic produced by the philosopher's stone. Christianity employed the symbol of the basilisk at times, and as with a number of other serpents, immediately cast it as a demon or representative of the devil itself. Therefore, it was often depicted in Church murals or stone carvings, often slain or being defeated by a Christian Knight to symbolize the ability to overcome evil.

Around the same time, the basilisk became incorporated in heraldry, specifically in the town of Basel, Switzerland. Heraldric images blend the famous Bishop of Basel's coat of arms with the basilisk. The Bishop was forced out during the Protestant Reformation Reformation, and the basilisk was blamed for an earthquake in the city years before, so that these two seeming regrettable events became and still are the symbol of Basel.

Literary references

The basilisk has appeared in literature for centuries. Geoffrey Chaucer featured a basilicok (as he called it) in his Canterbury Tales as did William Shakespeare in Richard III, who 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. Poet 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 chapter XVI of The Zadig by Voltaire, and a basilisk's look is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula, when the main character makes his first attempt to kill Count Dracula.

In contemporary times, the most famous basilisk comes out of the Harry Potter series. In the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, author J.K. Rowling employs a basilisk as the creature under the control of dark wizards who use the beast to cleanse the world of those with 'impure' blood.

Usage in modern fantasy

While the fantasy sub-culture remains strong in contemporary times, the basilisk is not often used explicitly. Both role-playing games Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering have used somewhat traditional basilisk-like creatures, while other books and video-games will occasionally borrow aspects of the basilisk for use. When a basilisk is used, it is often in the giant snake form, or completely reptilian in nature; the cockatrice chimera is almost never depicted.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Costello, Peter. 1979. The Magic Zoo: The Natural History of Fabulous Animals. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312504217
• (Italian) Galloni, Paolo. 1998. Il sacro artefice. ISBN 8842055115 (about the historical background of basiliscus during the Middle Ages).
• Hassig, Debra. 2000. The Mark of the Beast: The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature. Routledge. ISBN 041592894X
• Nigg, Joe. 1995. Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 156308242X
• Nigg, Joe. 2001. The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts. Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 978-0764155109

External links

• Medieval Bestiary: Basilisk Retrieved September 12, 2007.

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