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Greek:
The Basilisk can take it’s place along side creatures such as Dragons, Unicorns, Giants etc, creatures are common and which reside in many myths across the globe. However there is numerous mention of the Basilisk in Greek Myth
There are general two terms to describe the Basilisk and these reside from Greek Mythology. The word Basilisk is from the Greek basiliskos meaning “little king”. Most description’s of the Basilisk are found in Pliny’s Natural History written in Rome in 77AD.
This piece of work is a compilation of ancient (mostly Greek) sources. During chapter XIII, directly after text about the Catoblepas Pliny talks about the Basilisk.
The basilisk serpent also has the same power (being able to kill with it’s vision). It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than 12 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. It kills bushes not only by its touch but also by its breath, scorches up grass and bursts rocks. Its effect on other animals is disastrous: it is believed that once one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection rising through the spear rising not only the rider but also the horse. Yet to a creature so marvelous as this, indeed kings have often wished to see a specimen when safely dead _ the venom of weasels is fatal: so fixed is the decree of nature that nothing shall be without its match. (8. xxxiii)
Basically the above says that the creature can burn everything it approaches, and can kill every living thing with a mere glance. However the moment the creature sees its own reflection, it will die of fright.
Then it goes onto say that the even the Basilisk has natural enemies. The weasel is immune to its glance and if it gets bitten it withdraws from the fight to eat some rue, the only plant that does not wither, and returns with renewed strength. A more dangerous enemy for the Basilisk is the cock, for if it should crow, and the Basilisk heard, it would die instantly.
The carcass of a basilisk was often hung in houses to keep spiders away. It was also used in the temples of Apollo and Diana, where no swallow ever dared to enter. In heraldry the basilisk is represented as an animal with the head, torso and legs of a cock, the tongue of a snake and the wings of a bat. The snake-like rump ends in an arrowpoint.
Other sources that mention the Basilisk are from Egypt. The Egyptian Horapollo wrote of the basilisk in his Hieroglyphica (c. 450 CE)1. In it he says:
" & this the Egyptians call Ouraion, but the Greeks a Basilisk. They make this of gold and put it on the [heads of the] gods." (1.1) And therefore an association with royalty, even in Egypt, was apparent.
This brings along the concept that the Basilisk was associated with royalty.
Other:
The basilisk could have originated from the horned adder or hooded cobra from India. Pliny the Elder described it simply as a snake with a golden crown. By the Middle Ages, it had become a snake with the head of a cock, and sometimes with the head a human. In art, the basilisk symbolized the devil and the antichrist. To the Protestants, it was a symbol of the papacy.
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