Basilisk

OK, I’ll admit it – I got the idea for this from the Harry Potter books. I’m actually quite glad I did, because it’s an interesting creature – even if entirely mythological. There is a modern-day creature called the basilisk (pronounced baz-ill-isk), which takes its name from the mythical one. It’s a small lizard with splayed back feet that can run across water, using a combination of its lightness, specialized feet and sheer speed. It’s worth mentioning that basilisk was also the name of a cannon used on warships around the 15th and 16th centuries – and that this too takes its name from the original fearsome creature.

So on to the basilisk proper – or maybe, but not straight away. You see, there’s a bit of confusion as to whether the basilisk and the cockatrice are the same animal. As neither of them are real, I can’t see what the problem would be – but some people seem to think it a matter of some importance. A basilisk was (depending upon whose account you care to adopt):

• A giant snake “three spans long” – according to The Bible – with a crown-like yellow spot on its head. The word basilisk itself comes from the Greek basiliskos (little king) and is often referred to as the king of serpents. Some versions of The Bible translate the Hebrew tziph’oni as “basilisk” but many versions simply render the word as “adder”. The basilisk can only be killed by weasels.
• A huge multi-legged reptile – a fairly indiscriminate description, but definitely not a snake.
• A cockerel about one and a half metres tall, with the head, fangs and tail of a snake. You may now make up your own “three-foot cock” joke, if you so wish. Suffice to say, it can’t have been pretty to look at, and nobody would have a got a leg for Sunday lunch.

There are two major differences between the basilisk and the cockatrice – the basilisk is a serpent’s egg hatched by a cockerel, and a cockatrice is a hen’s egg hatched by a reptile. And a cockatrice has wings, too. In addition, a cockatrice can be killed by the sound of a cock crowing.

The most entertaining thing about a basilisk is described for us here by the famous Roman natural historian, Pliny the Elder. Normally a sober, intelligent chap, he must have had a flagon or two of wine when he wrote:

Anyone who sees the eyes of a basilisk serpent (basilisci serpentis) dies immediately. It is no more than twelve inches long, and has white markings on its head that look like a diadem. Unlike other snakes, which flee its hiss, it moves forward with its middle raised high. Its touch and even its breath scorch grass, kill bushes and burst rocks. Its poison is so deadly that once when a man on a horse speared a basilisk, the venom travelled up the spear and killed not only the man, but also the horse. A weasel can kill a basilisk; the serpent is thrown into a hole where a weasel lives, and the stench of the weasel kills the basilisk at the same time as the basilisk kills the weasel.

Yes, the basilisk can kill you just by looking at you – unless, presumably, you are a particularly pungent weasel. I can see where this may have been misconstrued. Evidently, if you disturbed one of the adders (as they probably were) it would be pretty much the last thing you’d have seen. The hydrophobia is a common factor in many poisonous snakes, too. The problem with killing one would appear to be that in order to get hold of it and throw it into a weasel’s home, you’d have to at least look at it, or touch it – on that basis they should by now be the rulers of the world.

So there you have the basilisk. A fun piece of research, but nothing like the huge thing in the Harry Potter book.