According to Micha Lindemans, the basilisk is the mythical king of the serpents. This cockatrice creature was born from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius by a seven year old rooster and hatched by a toad. It also played a role in the making of Spanish Gold.
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 gold crown. By the Middle Ages, it had become a snake with the head of a cock, and sometimes with the head of a human. In art, the basilisk symbolized the devil and the antichrist.