Basilisk (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Serpent. BASKET, a vessel made of plaited reeds, twigs, palm-leaves, or other material. The word is tised in EV as the equivalent of live Ileb. and three Gr. «ords. 1. '70 §al, a bag of flexible interwoven twigs, probably similar in shape to the basket in which a carpenter carries his tools. Three such baskets the chief baker of Pharaoh dreamt he carried on his head (Gn 40'"- "• "*), probably in the manner represented on the tomb of Ramses iii. (Wilkin- son i. 401).

These were baskets of white bread (RV), not white bivskets as in AV, or o]ienwork baskets, as Symmachus. Similar baskets were useil to carry the unleavened bread and the oiled cakes and wafers for the ollering of consecration of the priests (Ex '2!)'-2> ; also Lv S^") ; hence in Lv 8" it IS called the basket of consecration. Such baskets were also useil for the Nazirite's ollering (Nu 6'»- "• '").

Gideon carried the llcsh of the kid iiml the unleavened cakes of his provision fur the aii;:el in a biiskel of this .sort (.Ig 0'"). The name Sallni in Nell 11' 12-'" has been fancifully su|iposed to refer to a family of basket-makers, but this is highly improbable on etymological grounds. 2. n'i'?c';B siilsilhdk, in Jer 6", is translated 'grape-gatherer's bivskets,' the tallalak of the 236 BASKET BASON Arabs. Such baskets are represented in the Ejiyptian tomb-pictures (Wilkinson, i. 3S3).

The context, however, makes it probable that the word is connected with zaUallim, used in Is IS', meaning young shoots or tendrils, for the idea in the verse IS the gleaning of an already stripped vine. Tal- talliin IS used in Ca 5" for twisted locks of hair. 3. k;3 <<,'ne', a basket for ordinary household or jigricultural use, employed for carrying the first- fruits (Ut26-*). LXX renders it KapraWos, which, like the Roman corbis, was a basket tapering downwards.

National prosperity, consequent on welldoing, was typified by the blessing of the liasket {tens') and the store (Dt28'). The opposite <'ondition was attended with a ciu'se ou the basket (v.") I'erid ami tennu are common Egyp. names for a b;isket. In line 2 of the Canopic decree the Arsinoite basket-bearing priest is called tend n met A rsinati. This is rendered in the Gr. version canephorus, the name given to the Athenian basket-bearing girls at the feasts of Dionysus and Demeter.

The basket-bearing priest is a con- spicuous feature in the Assyrian sculptures. 4. in dudh, the KdXados of the LXX, was prob- ably also a tapering basket, like that used by the Romans for wool (Virg. jEneid, vii. 805) or by the Greeks for fruit (Aristoph. Lysistr. 579). In it were contained the figs of Jeremiah's vision ;24' '). Large baskets of this kind were used for carrying clay to the brick-kilns ; these are referred to in Ps 8I« (RV ; not ' pots ' as in AV). They are represented in Egyp.

paintings as carried on the back, over one shoulder, as in most Ushabti figures, or else they were borne between two on a pole, or two were carried by a yoke resting on the shoulders, as shown in a painting at Benihassan. In any case the deliverance of the Israelites is well expressed by the removal of their shoulders from the burden. In baskets of this kind the heads of Ahab's sons were sent to Jehu at Jezreel (2 K 10').

This word is also translated ' kettle' in 1 S 2", as in Job 41-'" (see Kettle in art. Food). 5. 3i'?3 l;(ltibh, rendered by LXX S.yyoi, is used in Am 8'- '^ for a basket containing summer fruits. The same word in Jer 5-'' signifies a bird-cage, probably of basketwork, in which sense the word occurs in Phoenician and Syriac. Compare )cXcj/36s in Autipater's epigram (Anthol. Palat. vi. 109. 3). The njn tibhah of papyrus reeds, in which the infant Moses was exposed, was a sort of basket.

Teh is the Egyptian name of a mummy-case. ( >ther Egyptian baskets were Tnesen, a fruit basket of palm leaves and rushes for carrying dates ; liutcp, a basket for carrying meat {Pap. Anastasi) or nowers (Diimichen), senab, seg, and x'^X'^t " basket for catching fish, such as tliat figured on the tomb of Ti ; compare the lUikkah of Hab 1'°. In the NT three words are used which are translated basket— 1. Ko<pi.

iioi, used in all the accounts of the miracle of feeding the 5000, for the basksts in which the fragments were gathered, Mt 14", Mk 6", Lk 9", Jn 6". According to Juvenal (Sat. iii. 14, .i. 541) the Jews carried about with them the.se wicker baskets for their food in Gentile countries to prevent defilement. Kophinoi were used to carry agricultural produce (Columella, xi. 3).

Their sizes were probably variable, but the word is used for a Boeotian measure of capacity equal to two gallons (CIG 1625, 46). 2. a<i,vpii, the kind of basket in which the frag- ments were gathered after the feeding of the 4000, Mt 15", Mk 8». It was probably a large provision basket, possibly of ropework, such as those which the lake-dwelling Pieonians used for fishing with (Herodot. v. 16). In such a spuris the disciples lot down St. Paul from the walls of Damascus, Ac 9^°.

The spuria and kuphinus are contrasted in Mt \&- '", Jlk 8'»- =», the former being probably the larger. The mediaival com- mentators fancifully allegorized these baskets (see Itabanus Maurus, Allcg. in Script, ed. Migne, 898 ; and for references to the sportulm of the clergy and others, see Chrysost. Ep. to Valentinus, ed. Migne, iii. 731 ; and Cyprian's Ep. ad clerum et plebem. p. 324). 3. aapyifv, used only in 2 Co 11" in reference to the basket by which St. Paul escaped from Damascus.

Tiie word means anything plaited, as in yEschyl. Suppl. 769, but is used of a fish basket by Timokles (AijS. i.) See Pollux, Onomast. vii. 27. The other receptacles mentioned in the NT, ir^pa or wallet ; yKwaabKoixov, Judas's bag ; and /SaXXdxTioj', used thrice in Luke, were probably of leather. The vlvai, on which John the Baptist's head was brought to Salome, was probably a wooden platter.

In the early Church, cophini or canistra, wicker baskets, were used for carrying the eulogia or con- secrated bread and wine to those not present at the Eucharist (Jerome, Ep. ad Busticum, ed. Migne, cxxv. 1078). Illustrations of these baskets are referred to in Martigny's Diet, des Antiq. Ckrit. p. 246. The word basket is of Celtic origin, from a root which signifies to twist round.

Its British source, which has been questioned on dubious grounds by recent etymologists, is referred to by Martial, xiv. 99. From the Schol. on Juv. xii. 46, we learn that baskets were used to hold cups and pots when they were being washed in running water. {See Bulenger. de Conviviis, iv. 10, 11). A. Macalister.