The BasiliskThe basilisk - often confused with the cockatrice - was one of the most fearsome creatures of mythology, able to kill with its gaze. Shakespeare refers to them in Richard III ("Would they were basilisks to strike thee dead!"). More recently a basilisk featured in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".
What Is A Basilisk?There is actually a real creature called the basilisk lizard. However most people know the name from mythology.According to legend, the basilisk is a large, serpentine creature that was hatched from an egg and lived in the desert. Its gaze could kill by petrification. The name basilisk comes from the Greek word "basilikos", which means "little king". The basilisk is sometimes known as the King of Serpents and is often described as having a crown shaped feature on its head. Although its name is Greek, the basilisk doesn't feature heavily in surviving ancient Greek literature. Instead the main description of the beast comes from Roman times. Pliny the Elder included it in his "Natural History" where he described it thus:
"It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than 12 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 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." Note that Pliny's basilisk is a lot smaller than most modern depictions! According to some legends, the venemous bite of the basilisk could be cured using basil. CockatriceThe cockatrice is very similar to the basilisk and the two names are sometimes used interchangably. The main difference is that the cockatrice is more likely to have the birdlike qualities of a cockerel. For example the basilisk is sometimes depicted with wings, sometimes without - the cockatrice is almost always winged.
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