Basilisk (mythology)

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The basilisk (Greek: βασιλίσϰος basilískos lat. Regulus = "little king" or "chief"; also Sibilus) is a mythical animal and was named after a genus of iguanas in Latin America ( basilisk ). He is known as the "king of snakes". In medieval animal books, basilisks are often represented as hybrid creatures with the upper body of a rooster , a crown on their head , and the abdomen of a snake .

Over the centuries, especially in the Middle Ages, the representation of the hybrid creature was changed and refined: two or more bird legs, wings, feathers or even a human head were added to a basilisk. The changes were so serious that in some cultures (especially in the Anglo-American language area) a distinction is made between the original basilisk (= basilisk without wings) and a cockatrice (= basilisk with wings). A basilisk's gaze petrifies or kills. His breath is deadly poisonous.

Basilisks have engulfed the imagination of humans since ancient times, so a multitude of local basilisk stories have emerged. The basilisk also appears in fantastic literature today.

Woodcut from the Serpentum et draconum historiae by Ulisse Aldrovandi (Bologna 1640)
Real frontal lobe basilisk for comparison with the mythical basilisk.

First mentioned in ancient times

First mention

The basilisk is documentedly mentioned for the first time by Democritus and his plagiarist Bolos von Mendes . Since then he can look back on a "career" as one of the most famous mythical creatures in history.

Pliny the Elder described it in the eighth book of his Naturalis historia with the animals that come from the African and Oriental realms. According to Pliny, it is a species of snake native to the province of Kyrenaica . It is no longer than twelve fingers (about 24 centimeters) and has a white spot on the head that decorates it like a diadem.

“With his hissing he chases away all the snakes and does not move his body through multiple turns like the others, but walks proudly and half erect. It causes the bushes to die off, not just by touching them, but also by the breath, scorches the herbs and blows up stones: this monster has such strength. It was believed that someone once killed him on horseback with a spear and that the poison that was acting rose up on it and brought death not only to the rider but also to the horse. And this enormous monster - for kings often wished to see it dead - is killed by the exhalation of the weasel: it was so much nature's pleasure to leave nothing without some counterforce. The weasels are thrown into the caves [of the basilisks], which are easily recognized by the parched ground. These kill by their smell, but at the same time die themselves, and nature's quarrel is resolved. "

The basilisk and the Yale

The Yale and the Basilisk were enemies. According to Pliny, the Yale is a beast the size of a hippopotamus , with an elephant's tail, black or yellow-brown in color, with boar jaws and movable horns over a cubit length, which in a fight alternate between erecting during the attack and otherwise tilting backwards be worn ...

While the Yale sleeps, the basilisk stabs him between the eyes. Due to its strong venom, the Yale's eyes begin to swell until they eventually pop out of the head and it succumbs to the poisoning.

middle Ages

Melchior Lorck : "Basilischus" (Basilisk), etching, 1548

The basilisk was known to the Middle Ages either directly through Pliny or through Solinus , who drew from Pliny 's works, or through the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville .

Medieval ideas

The basilisk can be found in many medieval works, such as in the Physika by Hildegard von Bingen and in the Ornithologia as well as the Monstrorum historia by the Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi . Its description has changed a lot and has been embellished over time. Mostly one meets the following idea:

The basilisk hatches from the egg of an old rooster or from a yolk-less hen's egg that is hatched in the dung by a toad or a snake. His stinking breath is unbearable and his gaze should be able to petrify. The monster lives in wells and cellars. It can only be destroyed by holding a metal mirror in front of it, in which the petrifying gaze is turned towards the basilisk itself.

In addition, other sources mention that the weasel can kill the basilisk. The English Franciscan Franziskus Bartholomäus mentions that the deadly gaze can only be conquered by a weasel that has previously eaten by the rue (Rutaceae).

The motif of the petrifying gaze can also be found in the ancient stories about the Gorgon Medusa , who instead of hair grew snakes on his head.

Archangel Michael kills the basilisk Zwolle city ​​seal 1295

Using his experimenter, Thomas von Cantimpré sought an explanation for the deadly effect of the basilisk's gaze. He assumed that the rays emanating from the basilisk's eyes spoiled the spiritus visibilis of humans. The contact with the beast would then destroy all other spiritus , so that death would occur. Thomas doubted the details of how the basilisk was made from a cock's egg.

In alchemy the ashes of the basilisk was sought. It was considered a means against other poisonous animals.

Symbolism and representation

Basilisk as an allegory of sin, 1741, Wolframs-Eschenbach

As an allegorical figure, basilisks symbolize death, the devil , sin or the antichrist . Among the deadly sins , the basilisk is often equated with lust , but also with envy and arrogance . Christ is often depicted crushing a basilisk. Representations of basilisks in ecclesiastical areas from the 13th to 17th centuries can often be found on baptismal fonts, apse friezes, shrines, etc.

As Basilisk poison the spreading in the late 15th century, syphilis called. The phrase basilisk gaze describes a particularly sharp or piercing look.

In alchemy , which is linguistically expressed in allegories, the basilisk stands for the philosopher's stone .

The composer Solage (2nd half of the 14th century) wrote Le basile : The basilisk by its nature instantly kills all those it sees, for its poison is deadly; without measure, without remedies, without relief. In the same way, envy kills the good by very bloody jealousy, so that everyone regards his own kind with great enmity, for deceit holds the world in its power. Le basile de sa propre nature tous ceulz qu'il voit tue soubdaynement. car son venin est mortel sanz mesure. sanz remede et sanz alegement. Ainsi do Envielez bonz par trez sanglante blinds. tant que chascun voit son per a grant payne. car Barat tient le monde en son demaine.

Local basilisk stories

The basilisk appears in numerous local stories because it has always stimulated the imagination of superstitious people. Princes coveted basilisk eggs for their rarity chambers and basilisks were on display at annual fairs well into the early modern period . Zedler's Universal Lexicon still faithfully describes the basilisk according to traditional ideas, but then goes into court critically with individual cases. He reports, among other things, of fraudulent basilisk viewing in Germany in 1671, which was unmasked. What follows is an amusing, "scientifically controversial" presentation of why roosters cannot lay eggs.

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon later reports on these scams:

“Young rays were trimmed by distorting their bodies after the imaginary figure, glass eyes were placed in their nostrils and they were allowed to see for money. Such artificial basilisks are still found here and there in old natural collections. "

(See also Jenny Haniver )

Aachen

In Aachen ( Germany ) it was believed in 1748 that two roosters laid basilisk eggs. The mayor's servant Johannes Janssen writes in his chronicle for this year:

The basilisk in the chronicle of the mayor servant Johannes Janssen from Aachen (1748)
In Cöllerstrass at a citizen's man who keeps chickens, there the rooster had laid an eye just like a chicken, but narrow and long, not shaped like a chicken eye, when the man came over and saw this, the rooster was immediately struck to death.
The same thing happened in Marschierstrass, but the man let the rooster live where he put the egg, I don't know, and how one thinks these cocks eggs would hatch the terrible poisonous animal, called basilisks. These animals are so harmful and poisonous that a single one could poison a whole country in the air, that people and cattle would die from it. This animal is designed like a rooster, only its stärtz is slang or dragon the same and very small as this figure shows, but a little larger, the very largest is to be reckoned as a stave against the great, and so from now on, then I have one with me Seen my eyes, but dead and embalmed in front of a rarity in Brussels, but one that is alive is so full of poison that if a person looks at it from afar, he must die from it, yes, even where the animal is, grass or anything else grows Herb, the tree and bushes wither due to its poisonous presence. God wants to protect us here in this country from the same animal. If roosters lay eggs in the city, they will also do them out there at the farm, where this animal could be scalded in the field or in the bush. God keep us from it. "
Basilisk at the
Wettstein Bridge in Basel
One of the numerous basilisk fountains in Basel , Unterer Rheinweg

Basel

In Basel (Switzerland) the basilisk first appeared as a shield holder around 1448 and you can find many basilisk figures in all variations in the city.

Basel coins were also minted with a basilisk motif.

Various legends associate Basel with the basilisk:

  • When the city was founded, a basilisk is said to have lived in a cave by the current tannery fountain and thus received its coat of arms
  • Since the names Basilisk and Basilea are similar for Basel, the residents subsequently brought these two together. Originally, the city name probably had nothing to do with a basilisk. The first verifiable mention of the city can be found in Roman historiography
  • According to another version, a merchant is said to have brought a basilisk to Basel. What is certain is that a rooster was sentenced to death in Basel in 1474 (after an animal trial ). The rooster was accused of having laid an egg, which was against nature. Above all, however, the people of Basel feared that a basilisk could hatch from the egg. After a due process , the rooster was beheaded and the incriminated egg handed over to the flames.
Basilisk
City Museum Memmingen

Memmingen

In Memmingen (Germany), according to a legend, a man condemned to death earned his freedom by killing a basilisk who lived in the cellar of a house near the Frauenmühle. The basilisk had already killed many daredevils with its gaze. The man had hung his robe with mirrors and carried a mirror as a shield. The basilisk is one of the seven landmarks of Memmingen .

Pforzheim Castle Church Romanesque southwest facade frieze detail with basilisk

Pforzheim

Superstition in Pforzheim : a seven-year-old rooster lays a small egg that you have to throw over the roof, otherwise the weather will hit the house; hatched there is a basilisk. Jacob Grimm

Sankt Johann (near Mayen)

The coat of arms of the city of Sankt Johann (bei Mayen) (Germany) shows a red basilisk on a silver shield. It corresponds to the coat of arms of the von Breidbach family (see Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim ), who lived in the Bürresheim Castle there for several centuries .

Basilisk (as a sculpture and fresco ) and lettering of the house in Schönlaterngasse No. 7, Vienna.
Depiction of the basilisk on the house wall at Schönlaterngasse No. 3 in Vienna

Vienna

A legend from Vienna ( Austria ) tells that in 1212 a basilisk lived in the house well of the house at Schönlaterngasse No. 7. A baker's boy wanted to defeat the dangerous animal, the sight of which turns you to stone. Once at the bottom the boy held the mirror in front of the basilisk's face, whereupon the basilisk bursts with rage and rage because of his own image, so terrified by his hideousness. Afterwards the well and the body of the monster were sealed with stones and earth. Today a fresco of the basilisk on the house wall is supposed to remind of the brave deed of the boy. The corresponding inscription was only made in 1932 based on the original text from 1577.

In another variant of this legend, the basilisk in the well was smothered by the population with the help of earth and stones.

More local basilisk stories

Modern reception

The basilisk still stimulates the imagination of people today and is a popular motif in literature. He often takes on the role of a monster to be conquered. So in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the title hero has to kill a huge basilisk in order to defeat his opponent Lord Voldemort . Even Hagar the Horrible fights in a comic book from 1986 against a basilisk ( Hagar the Horrible III. Hägar and the basilisk ). In the German feature film Sedicio , a basilisk messes up the structure between time and space and is responsible for the fight between angry and oastarian. This antagonistic attitude is taken up in many computer games and role-playing games, including Dungeons & Dragons , The Black Eye , The Witcher 3 and World of Warcraft .

However, the basilisk does not always occupy this typically antagonistic position in modern reception. The basilisk appears in one of the Discworld novels (in: The Magic Hat ). However, this is eaten by a chest with many small feet and is thus caricatured . Something similar happens in “Der Schatz im Ötscher” (a play & reading adventure by Franz Sales Sklenitzka). Here is a rather unusual basilisk, which is very uncomfortable with the deadly look itself, which can be remedied with sunglasses.

In Hannes Hüttner 's children's book Das Blaue vom Himmel , Basil, the basilisk, plays an extremely friendly and important role, with which even positive properties are associated with the basilisk.

Volume 39 of the children's book series Beast Quest by Adam Blade is called Raptox the Devil's Basilisk . This basilisk has some typical properties: It lives in the mountains, has scales, spits poison and can break stones.

The thought experiment of Roko's Basilisk is about a hypothetical future artificial intelligence that will punish all those who do not want to work on its realization.

heraldry

In heraldry , the basilisk, like the griffin and the lion , is a heraldic animal in the series of common figures .

See the article basilisk (heraldic animal) .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. C. Plinius Secundus the Elder, Natural History, Latin - German , ed. by Robert König, Book VIII: Zoology: Landtiere, Chapter XXXIII, § 78.
  2. ^ Pierre Gallais, Yves-Jean Riou: Mélanges offerts à René Crozet . tape 2 . Poitiers 1966, p. 1172 .
  3. ^ Isidore of Seville : Etymologiae . Liber XII: De Animalibus . here: 4,6 ( Basiliscus Graece, Latine interpretatur regulus ...) . (Online version)
  4. ^ Basiliscus, Regulus. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 3, Leipzig 1733, column 599-560.
  5. Basilisk . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 2, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 426.
  6. ^ Hermann Ariovist von Fürth : Contributions to the history of the Aachen patrician families , third volume, Aachen 1890. Here: The historical notes of the mayor's servant Johannes Janssen , p. 151
  7. Mint Basel Dicken with basilisk at Numispedia
  8. Legend of the Basel basilisk
  9. Allgäuer Sagen, from KA Reiser's "Sagen, Gebräuche und Sprichwort des Allgäu" selected by Hulda Eggart, Kempten and Munich 1914, No. 132, pp. 134-135.
  10. SAGEN.at - The basilisk in Schönlaterngasse. Retrieved June 24, 2017 .
  11. Reingard Witzmann: wunder.orte - zauber.zeichen: Legend trails through Vienna. Lower Austrian Press House, St. Pölten 2003 ISBN 3-85326271-6 . here: pages 119–125.
  12. Warsaw basilisk legend ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  13. David Auerbach: The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time . In: Slate . July 17, 2014, ISSN  1091-2339 ( slate.com [accessed June 12, 2018]).
  14. ^ Rokos Basilisk - Action 23 Wniki. Accessed June 12, 2018 (de-informal).

literature

  • Harald Gebhardt, Mario Ludwig: Of dragons, yetis and vampires - on the trail of mythical animals . BLV-Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16679-9
  • Christian Hünemörder . Annemarie Brückner: basilisk . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1529 f.
  • Christian Lienhard, Christiane Widmer: Basler Basilisken - From its creation in the 15th century to today . Spalentor Verlag, ISBN 3-908142-03-2 (with 220 images)
  • Leander Petzoldt: Small lexicon of demons and elementals , 3rd edition. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49451-X , pages 29–31
  • Marianne Sammer: Basilisk - regulus. A sketch of the history of meaning . In: Ulrich Müller, Werner Wunderlich (eds.): Demons, monsters, mythical creatures , (= Middle Ages Myths; Volume 2), Universitäts-Verlag Konstanz, St. Gallen 1999, ISBN 3-908701-04-X , pages 135-160 (With extensive literature references)
  • Marianne Sammer: The basilisk, on the natural and meaning history of a mythical animal in the West , Herbert Utz Verlag, ISBN 3-9804213-2-5

Web links

Commons : Basilisk  - collection of images, videos and audio files