FANTASTIC BEASTS
It was the fantastical beasts which captured the imaginations of Harry Potter fans, but many were inspired by mythology or early literature – like the hippogriff, a cross between a bird and a horse.
A picture of one can be found in Historia Animalium, an 1595 Italian text by an author named only as Idonius.
It shows a man running away from the creature, but he is clearly a muggle without Harry’s talent for riding a hippogriff that he demonstrates on Hagrid’s Buckbeak.
Among the 245 other illustrations in the book is one of a basilisk, the snake-like monster Harry encounters in The Chamber of Secrets.
The drawing by Idonius shows the basilisk with a crown-like crest and a cockerel’s body attached to a serpent’s tail.
He gives this description: “It’s the width of a palm but it could kill someone instantly with its stare, touch and breath.” Harry might have missed a trick, though. While he has to kill the basilisk with a sword Idonius claims something far less dangerous can destroy it – ”the scent of a weasel”.