Good Evening Everyone and Welcome to Between
Monsters and Men, tonight we are discovering the creature behind the Basilisk.
Monsters and Men, tonight we are discovering the creature behind the Basilisk.
Before
we get started I wanted to address the extreme controversial between a Basilisk
and a Cockatrice. There are two sides on this battle, those who believe they
are one in the same, and those who are firm they are completely and utterly
different. I will be bringing up the link between the two, but it is not as how
many think and this does not mean they are one in the same either. Both have
their own legends and stories so let it be up to you. Stayed tuned till the end
of this video to learn what I will be doing for the Cockatrice video.
we get started I wanted to address the extreme controversial between a Basilisk
and a Cockatrice. There are two sides on this battle, those who believe they
are one in the same, and those who are firm they are completely and utterly
different. I will be bringing up the link between the two, but it is not as how
many think and this does not mean they are one in the same either. Both have
their own legends and stories so let it be up to you. Stayed tuned till the end
of this video to learn what I will be doing for the Cockatrice video.
What
is a Basilisk?
is a Basilisk?
Basilisk
means in Latin, “Little King,” at which this creature received its name due to
the crown shaped crest that sits upon its head. Due to its name, the Basilisk
is considered the King of Serpents of the Mythological world. The Basilisk is
in many modern day medias from Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Ark
Survival, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, just to name a few but the
mythology has a powerful standing ever since the Greek and Roman times and
often is depicted as the most feared mythological creature. There are quite a
few stories from the ancient past, so let’s get started:
means in Latin, “Little King,” at which this creature received its name due to
the crown shaped crest that sits upon its head. Due to its name, the Basilisk
is considered the King of Serpents of the Mythological world. The Basilisk is
in many modern day medias from Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Ark
Survival, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, just to name a few but the
mythology has a powerful standing ever since the Greek and Roman times and
often is depicted as the most feared mythological creature. There are quite a
few stories from the ancient past, so let’s get started:
Lucan the Poet (39-65 AD, 1st
century CE) [Pharsalia, Book 9, verse 849-853, 968-975]
century CE) [Pharsalia, Book 9, verse 849-853, 968-975]
“…there
upreared| his regal head, and frighted from his track| with sibilant terror all
the subject swam| Baneful ere darts his poison, Basilisk| in sands deserted
king| What availed|Murrus, the lance by which thou didst transfix| A Basilisk?
Swift through the weapon ran| The poison to his hand: he draws his sword| And
severs arm and shoulder at a blow.| Then gazed secure upon his severed hand|
which perished as he looked. So had’st thou died| And such had been thy fate!”
upreared| his regal head, and frighted from his track| with sibilant terror all
the subject swam| Baneful ere darts his poison, Basilisk| in sands deserted
king| What availed|Murrus, the lance by which thou didst transfix| A Basilisk?
Swift through the weapon ran| The poison to his hand: he draws his sword| And
severs arm and shoulder at a blow.| Then gazed secure upon his severed hand|
which perished as he looked. So had’st thou died| And such had been thy fate!”
Pliny The Elder (79th AD, 1st
Century CE) [Natural History, Book 8, 33]
Century CE) [Natural History, Book 8, 33]
“Anyone who sees the eyes of a Basilisk dies
immediately. It is no more than twelve fingers (10.5 inches) long, and has
white markings on its head that look like a diadem. It lives in the province of
Cyrene. Unlike other snakes, which flee when it whistles, it moves forward with
its middle raised high. Its touch and breath scorches grass, kills bushes and
bursts rocks. Its poison so deadly that once 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.”
immediately. It is no more than twelve fingers (10.5 inches) long, and has
white markings on its head that look like a diadem. It lives in the province of
Cyrene. Unlike other snakes, which flee when it whistles, it moves forward with
its middle raised high. Its touch and breath scorches grass, kills bushes and
bursts rocks. Its poison so deadly that once 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.”
Isidore of Seville (560-636
AD, 7th Century CE) [Etymologies, Book 12, 4:6-9]
AD, 7th Century CE) [Etymologies, Book 12, 4:6-9]
The Basilisk is six inches in length, with white
spots; it is the king of snakes. All flee from it, for it can kill a man with
its smell or even by merely looking at him.
Birds flying within sight of the Basilisk, no matter how far away they
may be, are burned up. Yet the weasel
can kill it; for this purpose people put weasels into holes where the Basilisk
hides. They are like scorpions, they follow dry ground and they come to water,
they make men frenzy and hydrophobic.
The Basilisk is also called “Sibilus,” the hissing snake, because it
kills with a hiss.
Leonardospots; it is the king of snakes. All flee from it, for it can kill a man with
its smell or even by merely looking at him.
Birds flying within sight of the Basilisk, no matter how far away they
may be, are burned up. Yet the weasel
can kill it; for this purpose people put weasels into holes where the Basilisk
hides. They are like scorpions, they follow dry ground and they come to water,
they make men frenzy and hydrophobic.
The Basilisk is also called “Sibilus,” the hissing snake, because it
kills with a hiss.
Da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519) [Bestiary]
His accounts are very similar to
Pliny’s. Even to the point where the Basilisk is found, which is the province
of Cyrene to the size of 12 fingers, the fear that comes from other snakes, how
it moves and how it spoils the
environment with its very breath. There isn’t much of a difference from
what I can read but I didn’t find the exact text from his bestiary. However,
what I can conclude is this statement on the weasel: “This beast finds the lair
of the Basilisk, kills it with the smell of its urine, and this smell, indeed,
often kills the weasel itself.”
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (September 14, 1486- February 18, 1535)
Heinrich wrote on the Basilisk
“is always and cannot but be a male, as the more proper receptacle of venom and
destructive qualities.”
Cases
or Hysteria:
-
According to the
Exercitations of Julius Scaliger (1484-1558). During the ruling of Leo IV
(845-55), a basilisk concealed itself under an arch near the Temple of Lucia in
Rome. Just by sitting there, the creature’s venom/odor caused a devastating
plague. Luckily the Pope, killed the creature with his prayers.
According to the
Exercitations of Julius Scaliger (1484-1558). During the ruling of Leo IV
(845-55), a basilisk concealed itself under an arch near the Temple of Lucia in
Rome. Just by sitting there, the creature’s venom/odor caused a devastating
plague. Luckily the Pope, killed the creature with his prayers.
The
Venerable Bede was first to mention, the legend of a Basilisk alleging being
hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad. Later on, other
authors added the condition that the Basilisk would hatch under Sirius as it
ascended. Apparently, from one recorded statement, Basilisks’ are also only
male.
Habitat:
Most recorded documents make
claim that Basilisks live in Cyrene, Libya, and apparently there were beliefs
from the Romans that the creature also lived in the Sahara desert, and that the
desert used to be fertile land until an infestation of Basilisks turn it into a
desert.
The easy way to tell a Basilisks
nest from any other snakes is by the tainted nature surrounding it.
Strengths:
Contrary to popular belief, the
Basilisk doesn’t have much in its favor when it comes to strengths – but the
strengths that it does have can kill immediately. For example; other than the
instant fear that other snakes receive when the Basilisk whistles, its only two
attacks is its killing gaze and venomous breath. The Basilisk’s breath alone
can reach birds in the sky, killing them to the point they drop dead. Its
breath destroys any and all nature around it, and can even crawl up weapons to
eliminate equipped enemies.
Weaknesses:
The most known weakness for a
Basilisk is the weasel. The very smell of the weasel odor or urine is
apparently enough to kill the king of snakes. Plenty of stories explain, that
to kill a Basilisk all it takes is for you to throw a weasel into the
Basilisk’s hole, and the snake and the weasel will die. In the “Canterbury Tales,” by Geoffrey
Chaucer, features a Basilisk, whose name was Basilicok, could be killed by
hearing the crow of a rooster or if it gazes upon itself through a mirror much
like Medusa. This later method of killing the beast is also present in the
legend of the Basilisk of Warsaw, at which the beast is killed by a man
carrying a set of mirrors.
There are a couple of tales to
be told: one being with Alexander the Great, who ordered a mirror to be placed
between his army and a Basilisk. Upon seeing its reflection, the monster died.
Another tells of Saint George, who held his shield so that the Basilisk would
see its own image and die.
The possible very real candidate:
Putting all this knowledge
together and the very real possibility that people of old, may have exaggerate
tales or have gone through hysteria when shit has gone down: we can speculate a
real candidate to this beast. It is an easy subject: Cobras.
So I did, what I do best. I
research on a ground of a stone faced investigator.
We have to search for a snake
that can “stand up” for half its length, have a white spot and a crown. Cobras
are the only venomous snakes that can lift itself up to half its length and
still slither along. Their worse enemies? Mongooses. So here is what I found.
Nubian Spitting Cobras live in
Libya and all over the Sahara Desert. Their spit can reach the eyes of their
prey at a good distance, and since they are part of the cobra family, their
posture fits the bill. However, it doesn’t have a white spot on its head, or a
crown (though many believe the crown could be the hood.) Its size also doesn’t
match. Basilisks are said to be 12 fingers long, or 10.5 inches. That’s slightly
under a foot in length. Nubian Spitting Cobras are a medium sized cobra and the
longest ever recorded was 58 inches. Well over the Basilisk size.
So I looked for a spot on the
back of a snake, there are a couple of snakes that have a “crown,” or a “white
spot.” Let’s talk about the Monocled Cobra which does have a white spot on the
back of its neck; however it doesn’t live near Libya or even Africa. Matter in
fact it lives in India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and along the Malay
Peninsula. Plus, the adults can reach the length of 7.5 feet. Let’s not even
get on the King Cobra – they can reach passed 15 feet, and don’t leave near
Libya either.
I even searched through the many
Viper species that live in or around the Sahara but none match up to the looks
or posture of the Basilisk. Not even the very deadly Adder. So what about the
importation of exotic snakes? They used to bring Lions and Tigers from all
over, why not snakes? Well they did. But again, none of the snakes that
remotely come close to the appearance of a Basilisk comes close in other
significant ways.
Such as the White Crowned snake,
isn’t very aggressive and is mildly venomous, of course to the people of
ancient times with no anti-venom that is just as deadly as any. This snake mostly hunts at night, and is
black to dark brown on the rest of its body, so it’d be hard to see at night
and lives in Australia.
So what did these Romans and
Greeks see? What did they experience? What killed men with the crawling of
their venomous breath?
This doesn’t mean a cobra wasn’t
the culprit; there could have been a cobra that had a mutation of a spot on its
neck that could have been the Basilisk.
Only they know.
Other Little Facts:
-
The
Basilisk was so infamous it was linked to Alchemy in the 13th
century. Theophilus Presbyter gave a long recipe in his book for creating
copper into Spanish Gold. It took combining powdered Basilisk Blood, powdered
human blood, red copper and a special kind of vinegar.
The
Basilisk was so infamous it was linked to Alchemy in the 13th
century. Theophilus Presbyter gave a long recipe in his book for creating
copper into Spanish Gold. It took combining powdered Basilisk Blood, powdered
human blood, red copper and a special kind of vinegar.
-
The
Basilisk is shown to be on the Coat of Arms of the House Visconti in Piazza
Duomo, Milan. Ironically they called the Basilisk “Biscione,” which means in
Italian, “Non-Venomous snake; grass snake.” So the image may be representing a
python or constrictor than a Basilisk.
The
Basilisk is shown to be on the Coat of Arms of the House Visconti in Piazza
Duomo, Milan. Ironically they called the Basilisk “Biscione,” which means in
Italian, “Non-Venomous snake; grass snake.” So the image may be representing a
python or constrictor than a Basilisk.
-
The
Basilisk is also mentioned in the Bible.
The
Basilisk is also mentioned in the Bible.
-
The
Basilisk has made an appearance in many modern day media such as: World of
Warcraft, DOTA 2, Ark Survival, Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, Ice and Fire
(Game of Thrones,) and Harry Potter just to name a few.
So tell me, what do you think?The
Basilisk has made an appearance in many modern day media such as: World of
Warcraft, DOTA 2, Ark Survival, Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, Ice and Fire
(Game of Thrones,) and Harry Potter just to name a few.
Is the Basilisk based on a real live creature that slithers along the dunes of
the Sahara? Or a creature long forgotten or well hidden? Do you think there is
a difference between the Basilisk and the Cockatrice or are they one in the
same.
Personally I can see the
separation of the two. They are two very different looking creatures, with
similar abilities, that have touched different parts of the world. Though I can
see how they are easily mixed up. In the beginning of this video I mentioned a
special video that I will be in the works of creating for the Cockatrice and I
wasn’t lying. Anyone who knows me well enough, also knows I am a gamer. I wish
to do game theory videos in the future but to mix both of my favorite things
together, games and monsters, I will be doing a video on the Cockatrice of
legend versus the Cockatrice of the Witcher Game Series. I am not sure which
channel I will be putting it up on quite yet but I will let you know on both
once it is up. So check out my Gaming channel listed down below or on the
screen. I do realize I don’t have much up on that channel but I will be putting
up more soon. I try to focus on my primary channels which are this one and my
makeup one.
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