The Evolution of the Basilisk

R. McN. Alexander

doi:10.1017/S0017383500013589

The Evolution of the Basilisk

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009

R. McN. Alexander

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The basilisk, or cockatrice, is no longer a familiar animal. It was, however, well known in the Middle Ages from St. Isidore's alarming account, which was very widely quoted in the bestiaries:

basiliscus graece, latine interpretatur regulus, eo quod rex serpentium sit, adeo ut eum videntes fugiant, quia olfactu suo eos necat; nam et hominem vel si aspiciat interimit. siquidem et eius aspectu nulla avis volans inlaesa transit, sed quam procul sit, eius ore conbusta devoratur. a mustelis tamen vincitur, quas illic homines inferunt cavernis in quibus delitescit; itaque eo visu fugit, quem ilia persequitur et occidit. nihil enim parens ille rerum sine remedio constituit. est autem longitudine semipedalis; albis maculis lineatus. reguli autem, sicut scorpiones, arentia quaeque sectantur, et postquam ad aquas venerint, δροφ⋯ βους et lymphaticos faciunt. sibilus idem est qui et regulus. sibilo enim occidit, antequam mordeat vel exurat.

Type: Research Article
Information: Greece & Rome , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , October 1963 , pp. 170 - 181

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017383500013589 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1963

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References

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^{page 171 note 1} Rackham, H. (Loeb edition, London, 1947)Google Scholar suggests has or eos. It is clearly the weasels that are thrown into the basilisks' holes; has should be accepted.

^{page 172 note 1} Wilkinson, J. G., Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1837–1841).Google Scholar For an account of its later use see Bellonius, Petrus, Plurimarum Singularium…, Latin translation by Clusius, C. (Antwerp, 1589).Google Scholar

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^{page 173 note 2} Illustrated in Maiuri, A., Roman Painting (Geneva, 1953).Google Scholar The teeth are hopelessly wrong.

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^{page 174 note 6} See also several bronze figures of Isis in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; for instance, E.3. 1937.

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^{page 175 note 1} xxvii. 50 f.

^{page 175 note 2} Aldrovandus, U., De Serpentants (Bologna, 1640).Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 3} N.H. viii. 34.Google Scholar Compare Plato, Rep. i. 336d.Google Scholar

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^{page 176 note 4} Herod. ii. 75 f., iii. 107.Google Scholar

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^{page 176 note 8} N.H. x. 40.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 9} Meinerhatzhagen, R., Nicoll's Birds of Egypt (London, 1930), 436–8.Google Scholar

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^{page 177 note 1} De Incarnatione Christi, vii. 5Google Scholar, referred to by Polívka, G. in Z. des Vereins für Volkskunde, xxviii (1918), 41–56Google Scholar, but not examined by me.

^{page 177 note 2} Quaestiones Physicae, xiv.Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 3} For instance, Gesner, C., Historia Animalium (Zurich, 1551–1587)Google Scholar, and Agricola, G., De Animantibus Subterraneis (Basle, 1549).Google Scholar

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^{page 177 note 7} De Proprietatibus Rerum, xii. 16.Google Scholar

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^{page 177 note 9} De Animalibus, xxv. 19.Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 10} Robin, P. Ansell, Animal Lore in English Literature (London, 1932).Google Scholar

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^{page 178 note 1} De Proprietatibus Renan, xii. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 2} Davaine, C. in C.R. Soc. Biol, Ser. 3, ii (1861), 183–263.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 3} Benoît, J. in Grassé, P.-P., Traité de zoologie, xv (Paris, 1950), 365.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 4} C. Davaine, loc. cit.

^{page 178 note 5} Dawes, B., The Trematoda (Cambridge, 1946), 331.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 6} Letter from DrLapage, G., 1961.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 7} See J. Benoît, loc. cit. G. Lapage, loc. cit., believes that old reports of Heterakis in eggs may be due to misidentification of Ascaridia.

^{page 179 note 1} H.A. vi. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 2} Aelian, , De Nat. Anim. xvii. 12.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 3} De Proprietatibus Rerum, xii. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 4} Spec. Nat. xx. 24.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 5} Physica, vii. 12.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 6} The History of Alexander the Great, being the Syriac version of the PseudoCallisthenes, ed. and trans, by Budge, E. A. W. (London, 1889).Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 7} Pseudodoxia Epidemica, iii. 7.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 8} In Animal Lore in English Literature.

^{page 179 note 9} De Serpentants.

^{page 179 note 10} Mundus Subterraneus (Amsterdam, 1665).Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 1} Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1955–1997), ii 110.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 2} Encelius, C., De Re Metallica (Frankfurt, 1557), iii. 54.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 3} De Nat. Anim. iii. 31.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 4} Historia de Preliis from Pfister's paper in Münchener Museum, i. 265.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 5} See, for instance, Apollod. Bibl. ii. 4. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 6} I am obliged to the Cambridge University Librarian and to University College, Oxford, for permission to use the illustrations.

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