Mostruose metamorfosi: sull’ibridazione iconografica del basilisco

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_15210
dc.title	Mostruose metamorfosi: sull’ibridazione iconografica del basilisco
dc.contributor.author	Borniotto Valentina
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	it
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/venezia-arti/2023/1/mostruose-metamorfosi-sullibridazione-iconografica/
dc.description.abstract	The paper aims to highlight the centrality of a late process of metamorphosis, which has unequivocally conditioned the image of the basilisk, radically transforming its appearance from a simple snake to a monster with the body of a rooster and a snake’s tail. The basilisk described in the classical sources corresponded to a small snake but was characterized by an extraordinary poisonous power. With the passage to the Middle Ages and the influence of Christianity, the basilisk took on new monstrous meanings, transforming its iconography into a rooster-snake hybrid, based on theories that believed it was generated from a rooster’s egg. The Renaissance and Early Modern Age inherited the medieval basilisk, which continued to be prominently depicted in emblematic literature; in parallel, however, the new scientific literature began to exclude excessively legendary meanings, preferring to return to descriptions of the classical era and thus depict the basilisk as a snake.
dc.relation.ispartof	Venezia Arti
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 32 \| December 2023
dc.issued	2023-12-20
dc.dateSubmitted	2023-07-10
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2385-2720
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.30687/VA/2385-2720/2023/01/001
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Basilisk
dc.subject	Metamorphosis
dc.subject	Monster
dc.subject	Rooster
dc.subject	Snake

Research Article
open access peer reviewed

Valentina Borniotto Università di Genova, Italia

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abstract

The paper aims to highlight the centrality of a late process of metamorphosis, which has unequivocally conditioned the image of the basilisk, radically transforming its appearance from a simple snake to a monster with the body of a rooster and a snake’s tail. The basilisk described in the classical sources corresponded to a small snake but was characterized by an extraordinary poisonous power. With the passage to the Middle Ages and the influence of Christianity, the basilisk took on new monstrous meanings, transforming its iconography into a rooster-snake hybrid, based on theories that believed it was generated from a rooster’s egg. The Renaissance and Early Modern Age inherited the medieval basilisk, which continued to be prominently depicted in emblematic literature; in parallel, however, the new scientific literature began to exclude excessively legendary meanings, preferring to return to descriptions of the classical era and thus depict the basilisk as a snake.

Published

Dec. 20, 2023

Submitted

July 10, 2023

Language

Keywords: Monster • Metamorphosis • Snake • Basilisk • Rooster

permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/VA/2385-2720/2023/01/001

Copyright: © 2023 Valentina Borniotto. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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