Basilisk is a legendary reptile sometimes called the King of Serpents. Its name comes from a Greek word basileus, meaning king. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23 or 24-79) first described the basilisk in his 37-volume Natural History. He described it as having a white spot on its forehead resembling a crown. The creature was said to be capable of killing animals and shrubs with its poisonous breath. Pliny also wrote that the serpent moved upright rather than wriggling on the ground.
Legends about the basilisk grew in Europe during the Middle Ages, a period from the 400’s through the 1400’s. Alchemists (experimenters with chemistry and magic) claimed the ability to create a basilisk. They burned the creature and used the ashes to transform copper into gold. Medieval authors described basilisks that breathed fire and killed with their voices. The Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci even described the creature. He wrote that basilisks could kill animals and plants simply by staring at them. People could identify the lair of a basilisk by the dead vegetation surrounding its entrance.
Pliny wrote that a basilisk could be killed by the stench of a weasel thrown into the serpent’s lair. Writers in the Middle Ages agreed that only the crowing of a rooster could kill a basilisk. Several medieval writings describe pilgrims carrying roosters for protection from the creature.
Today, a lizard native to the Americas is called the basilisk lizard. This lizard has a crest on its head and can raise the front of its body and run upright on its hind legs.
