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Farley 1

The Basilisk

The word ‘basilisk' is from the Greek basiliskos meaning "little king". The word does not seem to come from ancient Greek, but from Pliny's Natural History which was written in Rome in 77 AD. Pliny mentions sixty references and describes the Basilisk:
"It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than twelve inches long, and adorned with a bright white marking on the head like a sort of diadem. It routs all snakes with its hiss, and does not move its body forward in manifold coils like the other snakes but advancing with its middle raised high.

Figure 1: Pliny's version of the Basilisk
It kills all plants by its touch and also by its breath. Its effect on other animals is deadly." It is believed that once one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection rising through the......

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Approximate Word Count: 994
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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