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Basilisk Facts & Worksheets

The Basilisk is a mythical creature in European bestiaries and legends, commonly depicted as a serpent-like legendary beast that can turn people into stone with its gaze and wither plants with its breath.

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The basilisk is a mythical creature in European bestiaries and legends. It made its first appearance in the folklore of Greece and Rome, commonly depicted as a serpent-like legendary beast that can turn people into stone with its gaze and wither plants with its breath. This creature is known to be synonymous with another mythical creature, the cockatrice.

See the fact file below for more information on the Basilisk or you can download our 25-page Basilisk worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

ETYMOLOGY

  • Pliny asserted that the word basilisk originated from the Greek term basileús and basiliskos (Greek: βασιλίσκος; Latin: basiliscus), which mean “little king”, “young ruler”, and “little prince”, from basileús (βᾰσῐλεύς), which means “king”, and -ískos(-ῐ́σκος) which is equivalent to a diminutive. It influenced the Anglicization of the word and a new term was adopted in late Middle English to become basilisk. In French, the creature is basilique; in Latin, it is basiliscus.

ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION

  • In his epic poem Pharsalia, roman poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, also known as “Lucan” in English, introduced a serpent capable of bringing immense terror. He wrote, “the basilisks’ hisses terrify all beasts which harm before its poison”.
  • Even after getting killed, a basilisk can still kill a beast. A Pharsalian soldier learns when he stabs the basilisk that the venom runs up the spear into his hand, which causes him to slice his hand to save his life from the poison.
  • Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, published in 79 CE, has one of the oldest reports of the basilisk. He states that the basilisk produced in the province of Cyrene is a small snake up to twelve fingers in length with venom and gaze that are lethal, leaving a trail of deadly poison in its wake. He also described the catoblepas, a huge cow-like beast that “those who behold its eyes, fall dead on the spot” and says “the same power exists in the snake known as the basilisk”. 
  • He also tells of how a rider and horse die after spearing the basilisk. In the text, a blackish-yellow creature more than a foot long slithers along with its upper body erect. According to Pliny, it can kill with its gaze alone and its foul breath hypnotizes its prey, with eyes sunken into a short head.
  • It is native to the region of Cyrene and is no longer than twelve fingers long. It has a white patch on the skull that strikingly resembles a wreath. When it hisses, all the other serpents flee; it does not advance its body in a series of folds like the others but moves upright and erect down the middle.
  • It kills all bushes, not just those with which it comes into contact, but also those on which it has breathed; it also burns all the grass and smashes the stones, such is its toxic impact. They thought that if a man on horseback killed one of these creatures with a spear, the poison would flow up the weapon and destroy the rider and the horse.
  • The effluvium of the weasel is lethal to this awful animal, and was been attempted with success since rulers often requested to view its body when murdered. Nature has indeed agreed that would should be nothing without its antidote.
  • The two early texts, Pharsalia and Historia Naturalis, laid the foundation for the attributes associated with the basilisk.
  • In the 1100s, St. Hildegard proposed that the basilisk was born from an egg hatched by a toad. She first suggested this in her book Physica. She also stated that the devilish art of the ancient serpent came from the antichrist who spawned the artificial hatching.
  • Early descriptions of European bestiaries and legends indicate that the creature is small but very lethal. It made its first appearance in the tales of ancient Greece and Rome, and in medieval temple Europe, the description of the beast began to take on the characteristics of cockerels. Cockerels and basilisks are used interchangeably and have become synonymous with each other.
  • Of all the accounts of basilisks, the most well-known is the strange tale of the Warsaw Basilisk in 1587.
  • The movement of the basilisk is unlike any other snake. It does not slither with its belly on the ground. It crawls forward with the front of its body towering above the earth. 
  • Romans believed the Sahara was fertile until the basilisks infested it and turned it into a desert. Because of this, some historians believe that speculated accounts and descriptions of cobras, particularly the Egyptian cobra, gave rise to the legend of the basilisk. 
  • A basilisk’s abilities are equally varied; its ability to kill any living creature simply by gazing into its prey’s eyes is almost universal. Other frightening characteristics include its capacity to wither plants due to its putrid breath and kill someone by spitting venom from meters away without making contact. It is generally considered a vicious predator, exceedingly unfriendly, and frequently feared as a monster of pure evil. 
  • The three descriptions of the mythical basilisk are a snake, a lizard, and a reptile with rooster-like features often accompanied by a head, reptilian tail, plumage, front legs of a rooster, and, occasionally, scaly wings. (The last form described is associated with a cockatrice.) While the cockatrice is the size of a palm, basilisks can grow into giant serpents or rooster-like figures.
  • The basilisk is known as the “King” because its white head spot has a mitre or crown-shaped crest.

Attributions

  • Author Bede was the first to recognize the tradition that a basilisk was born from the egg of an old rooster.
  • The basilisk was dubbed the “King of Snakes” by Isidore of Seville.

WEAKNESS

  • Weasels and roosters were said to be basilisks’ foes in ancient stories. Ancient people thought a basilisk would die if it heard a rooster crowing. Another method for annihilating a basilisk was to hold a mirror up to its face. The creature would perish as soon as it saw its reflection. 
  • According to legend, Alexander the Great had a mirror between his army and a basilisk guarding a city. The beast immediately perished when it saw its reflection. Similarly, Saint George held his shield so that a basilisk saw its image and died. 
  • Most likely influenced by accounts of Asiatic snakes (such as the king cobra), the basilisk’s association with the weasel in Europe was related to their natural predator, the mongoose. However, the weasel is the natural nemesis of basilisks since it is resistant to its lethal stare and can withstand its poison.
  • The basilisk’s vulnerability is the stench of the weasel tossed into the basilisk’s pit. According to Pliny, it is distinguishable because some of the surrounding bushes and grass had been burnt by its presence.
  • When traveling to areas where basilisks were supposed to reside, travelers typically took roosters, weasels, or mirrors for protection.

BASILISK IN ART, LITERATURE, AND EVERYDAY LIFE

  • The basilisk occurs in numerous European cultures, faiths, and myths. Medieval art features Christ, a saint, and other holy figures defeating it.
  • The basilisk appears in the works of English poets Edmund Spenser and Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare‘s plays Romeo and Juliet and Richard III.
  • The basilisk also appeared in J.K. Rowling‘s 1998 famous novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In Harry Potter, the basilisk represented is more closely related to the sigil of the “evil” house Slytherin, so it appears to have the appearance of a giant serpentine-like creature.
  • John Dryden, a famous English poet and playwright of the 17th century, wrote the Spanish Friar (also known as Double Discovery) that mentioned the Basilisk of Torrismond.
  • It is a nemesis in several role-playing games such as Final Fantasy, The Witcher, and Awakening.
  • There are also real lizards named after these beasts called Casquehead lizards. They have four lizard species belonging to the Iguanidae family of the Basiliscus genus. The four species are striped, western, common, and plumed basilisk. 
  • The plumed basilisk is also known as the “Jesus lizard” because of its ability to sprint across the water’s surface using its rear legs. 

SYMBOLISM

  • The basilisk is often known as the “King of Serpents.” In Christian tradition, the serpent was with sin. The devil represented the fatal sin of desire due mainly to its seductive role in the fall of the Garden of Eden.
  • When Christianity used the basilisk as a symbol, it was quickly cast as a demon or representation of the devil, as with several other serpents. As a result, the Church frequently represented them in murals or stone sculptures having been slain or destroyed by a Christian knight to illustrate their capacity to combat evil.
  • Around the same period, heraldry adopted the basilisk, especially in the Swiss town of Basel. Heraldic representations combine the famed coat of arms of the Bishop of Basel with the basilisk. The Protestant Reformation drove the Bishop to resign, leaving the basilisk to be blamed for an earthquake in the city years before. Thus, these two seemingly tragic occurrences became, and continue to be, the emblem of Basel.

Basilisk Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Basilisk across 25 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about the Basilisk, a mythical creature in European bestiaries and legends commonly depicted as a serpent-like legendary beast that can turn people into stone with its gaze and wither plants with its breath.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Basilisk Facts
  2. King of Serpents
  3. Beast Creatures
  4. Fun Facts
  5. Is It a Cockatrice?
  6. Our Legend
  7. Warsaw Basilisk
  8. Chamber of Secrets
  9. Legendary Poem
  10. Let’s Create!
  11. Collage

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Link will appear as Basilisk Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, December 8, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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