The Basilisk: The King Of The Serpent

The basilisk is a mythical monster alleged to be the King of the Serpents. This chimeric serpent is reputed to be born when a cockerel hatches an egg which was laid by a serpent or toad when the constellation Sirius, the dog star, is ascendant in the sky (Breverton, 2011). Due to the vast mythology surrounding the basilisk, it was believed to have a myriad of preternatural and alchemical powers, most notably the ability to slay creatures with a single glance. This ability is consistent from the earliest known account of the basilisk, Pliny the Elder’s encyclopaedia, Natural History, which dates to 79AD. In this text, Pliny the Elder states that
Anyone who sees the eyes of a basilisk serpent dies immediately. It is no more than twelve inches
There was a plethora of basilisk depictions in bestiaries between 79AD and
In addition to featuring in encyclopaedias and bestiaries, the basilisk also featured prominently in the Bible, even replacing the traditional serpent in the story of Adam and Eve in some editions of the Bible. Although the Bible remains a source of ecclesiastical knowledge to modern readers, it also acted as a definitive source of scientific knowledge up until the Enlightenment, when various Biblical claims, such as the Earth being flat, were disproven. As such, featuring the Basilisk in the Bible acted as affirmation of its existence, thus making the notion of finding such a monster a chilling reality in the eyes of the public. Belief of the basilisks’ existence was only furthered by its basis on a real animal; the basilisk is believed to be based on the hooded cobra, a serpent capable of spitting paralytic venom from six feet away. The hooded cobra fits the original physical description of the basilisk, and its paralytic venom is believed to have caused the notion that the basilisk can kill simply by looking. As such, belief in the basilisks’ existence would have only been perpetuated by sightings of the hooded cobra, with its’ lethal gaze acting as an explanation for its ability to paralyse at a time when no other explanation for this ability was