Common basilisk
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The common basilisk is a species of lizard in the family Corytophanidae. The species is endemic to Central America and South America, where it is found near rivers and streams in rainforests. It is al
Common basilisk male 2
Common basilisk female
Males fighting, Costa Rica
Basilisk
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In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes any being to die when glanced at. According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder,
Common basilisk
…basilisk is named for the creature of Greek mythology made up of parts of a rooster, snake, and lion which could turn a man to stone by its gaze: the basilisk. Its generic, specific, and common names all derive from the Greek basilískos (βασιλίσκος), meaning 'little king'. The specific epithet was given in…
Basilisk aldrovandi
City seal of Zwolle from 1295 with the Archangel Michael killing a basilisk
The basilisk and the weasel, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder. The cockatrice (pictured) became seen as synonymous with the basilisk when the "basiliscus" in Bartholomeus Anglicus's De proprietatibus rerum (ca 1260) was translated by John Trevisa as "cockatrice" (1397).
A putto kills a basilisk, symbolic of Swedish occupiers and Protestant heresy, on the Mariensäule, Munich, erected in 1638.