BASILISK

Basilisk

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By: Zaayn Nathwani And Jorge Jiménez

4. Story 2

Index

5. Impact on popular culture

1. Description

2. Origins

6. Curious facts

3. Story 1

the cockatrice

1. Description

If it were real, what category would you put it in?

The basilisk is a fabulous animal from Greek mythology that has the shape of a small snake. It was considerated the king of the snakes. .

Its role was to petrificate people with the it's gaze killing all the plants when he passed through the plants, he poisoned the plants because his body emits off poison

According to Pliny the elder in his Natural Historia, it measured no more than 20 fingers(0,5m) in lenght.

But if it´s the cockatrice it can have some debate but we think that it is a bird because of its head, the fact that it can fly and that it hatches from an egg.

Over history, the basilisk has been depicted as a serpent, a lizard, and hybrid creatures.

Where does it live?

It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica

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ORIGINS

2nd theory

Its earliest mention was in Pliny the Elder's Natural History, a 37-volume account of the world written around 79 C.E. in the days of the Roman Empire. Pliny describes the basilisk as a creature resembling a snake about twelve fingers long that can kill with a glance and moves forward in an upright position.

1st theory

The first recorded basilisk was raised by Herpo (The Foul), a dark wizard from Greece who spoke parsel. After many experiments, Herpo discovered that a gigantic snake endowed with extraordinarily dangerous powers emerged from a chicken egg incubated by a toad.

The Roman poet Lucan was one of the first authors to describe the basilisk. His work stressed the horrors of the monster’s lethal venom.

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STORY 1

It was seen in the town of Renwick, in the north of England, when during the restoration of the town's church it emerged from the foundations. It is said that he started going in circles and chasing people. Faced with the situation, a certain John Tallantire took a rowan stick (a tree known for its magical properties) and fought against him. Although the man almost died, he managed to defeat him and as a reward he was exempt from paying his debts.

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STORY 2

The rumor spread quickly: a basilisk was hidden in that house. No other beast was capable of killing so quickly. Like the gaze of the gorgon Medusa, the basilisk's eyes and its poisoned breath were thought to be lethal.

It was 1587 when in Warsaw, Poland, two little girls mysteriously disappeared. The mother of one of them and her nanny had been looking for them for hours until the nanny looked into the old ruined basement. There they were both lying face down.

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Impact on pop culture

movies:

songs:

The basilisk appears in Harry Potter and it measured 15 meters, not like the ones of the Ancient Greece.

The basilisk doesn´t have any song

comics:

The basilisk has a comic in spanish called: Basilsico This comic tells the storie of this basilisk that is founded by a nun. Raising him allowed him to redeem hs wild behaivour. When the nun dies he has to wander around and steal food.

The basilisk of Salazar Slytherin was a basilisk that guarded the Salazar Slytherin´s Chamber of Secrets for 1000 years.

Index

In gaucho (plain and adyacent areas) folklore it was believed that the basilisk was described as a kind of giant worm with only one eye that caused death with its gaze, and which could only

Curious FActs

In sculpture, the figure of the basilisk was mainly used on the capitals of churches, occasionally it can be found in ivory carvings and applied arts.

San Vicente de Serrapio(Asturias)

San Juan de Alba(Salamanca)

In El Salvador, it is said that chickens lay one last small egg before dying and that if it is incubated by a toad or snake; the basilisk is born.

In the Old Testament we can find seven references to the basilisk, in four different books.

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A mixture of what animals is the basilisk?

What did the basilisk eat?

Basilisks fed off vertebrate animals, but it is unknown how much they ate at one time.

Generally the basilisk is composed of the head of a rooster, tail of a serpent, and sometimes wings of a dragon, though its appearance changes depending on the source.

Does it have more powers?

Yes, other powers it is thought to wield include lethal breath and venom so potent that the basilisk can kill without even biting its victims. The basilisk is often considered to be evil incarnate.

What it was his role?

According to the popular urban legend, it was a terrifying creature, described as a rooster, snake or turkey, with a snake's tail and the eyes of a frog.

In the Slavic mythlogy:

And he guarded hidden treasures in the Warsaw´s Old Town underground and killed intruders with its eyes

Other references

His eyes bulged and his skin was pale and swollen. Given the danger posed by the beast, the council decided to send Johann Faurer, a Silesian convict sentenced to maximum punishment for robbery, to kill it. If he succeeds, he would receive a pardon.