Solomon and Saturn facts for kids

Solomon and Saturn is the name for four old writings from Old English times. These writings are like conversations or dialogues. They feature Solomon, a wise king of Israel, and Saturn. In some of the poems, Saturn is described as a prince from the Chaldeans.

These works are mostly made of riddles. The two main poems, Solomon and Saturn I and Solomon and Saturn II, were often thought to be one long poem. They are known as some of the most mysterious and hard-to-understand poems from the Old English corpus.

Prose Version of Solomon and Saturn

The prose (non-poem) version of Solomon and Saturn is found in the Nowell Codex. This is the same old book that contains the famous Beowulf story. This text is set up as questions and answers. It mainly talks about things from the Christian faith and the Bible. It is very similar to other old English question-and-answer texts. These include Adrian and Ritheus and, later, the Master of Oxford's Catechism from the Middle English period.

Poetic Versions

Main Ideas and Themes

The poems Solomon and Saturn I, Solomon and Saturn II, and another called Pater Noster Solomon and Saturn are often compared to Norse poems. These include Vafþrúðnismál and Alvíssmál from the Poetic Edda.

Some experts say these poems show a way of thinking called orientalism. This means they might show worries about the cultural identity of the English people. Kathryn Powell, a scholar, believes that when these poems were kept safe in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, people in Anglo-Saxon England were worried. They worried about how knowledge was gained and shared. They also worried about the kingdom's stability and how strong their religious faith was.

Powell suggests that the poems put these worries onto the Eastern and non-Christian Chaldean people, who Saturn represents. By doing this, English people were encouraged to see themselves like the Christian figure of Solomon. This is seen as a way to make English Christian culture stronger by making the East seem less good.

When Were They Written?

It is very hard to know the exact date when most Old English poetry was written. The Solomon and Saturn poems are no different. Patrick O'Neill thinks they might be connected to the court of King Alfred in the 800s. Daniel Anlezark, however, believes the poems fit better with the culture of Dunstan's Glastonbury in the mid-900s.

The Solomon and Saturn texts are often seen as the first examples of a wider European tradition. This tradition includes similar works, like the conversation between Solomon and Marcolf.

About Solomon and Saturn I

Solomon and Saturn I is special because it is one of the few Old English poems found in more than one old book. It appears in two manuscripts: MS CCCC 41 and MS CCCC 422. This poem, along with Pater Noster Solomon and Saturn, uses runes. Runes are like secret symbols or a type of shorthand. The runic characters stand for the words in Old English that name them. Because of this, we know some of the names for the many runes used to write Old English.

The prose version of Solomon and Saturn has a riddle that asks: "Who invented letters? Mercurius the giant." The Anglo-Saxons often linked Mercury with Woden. Woden is known as Óðinn in Old Norse and is widely known today as Odin. Woden also gave his name to Wednesday.

About Solomon and Saturn II

Solomon and Saturn II is often thought to be more beautiful and artistic. It contains several riddles. Two of these riddles are among the most mysterious parts of all Old English literature. They are known as the weallande Wulf (wandering wolf) and Vasa Mortis (vessel of death) riddles.

The Weallende Wulf Riddle

Saturn's first riddle describes a dragon slayer named Wulf. It also talks about the wasteland that appears after Wulf dies. An early editor of the poem, Robert Menner, thought the weallende Wulf part came from old Hebrew stories. These stories were about Nimrod and the people who built the Tower of Babel. Menner believed Wulf was the Babylonian god Bel, who is linked to Saturn in Isidore's Etymologies.

Andy Orchard found similarities between Wulf and the hero of Beowulf. Daniel Anlezark suggested the passage is part of an "Avernian tradition." This tradition describes lands that are impossible to cross from ancient times. Tristan Major has suggested that this part mixes ideas from the Bible and classic stories. He thinks Wulf might be the mythological hero Perseus.

The Vasa Mortis Riddle

This riddle describes a strange bird that will be tied up until Doomsday. Solomon has tied it up, and the leaders of the Philistines are afraid of it. The last line of the passage names the bird as Vasa Mortis. Robert Menner argued that this Old English riddle comes from ancient Jewish stories. These stories are about Solomon's fights with demons. Menner identified the Vasa Mortis with the demon Asmodeus.

Another scholar, Cilluffo, sees connections between the Vasa Mortis and how Fame is described in Virgil's Aeneid. There are also links to the night monster in the Anglo-Saxon Liber Monstrorum and the griffin in the Wonders of the East.