Solomon and Saturn

Solomon and Saturn is the generic name given to four Old English works, which present a dialogue of riddles between Solomon, the king of Israel, and Saturn, identified in two of the poems as a prince of the Chaldeans.

On account of earlier editorial tendencies, the two poetical works, Solomon and Saturn I and Solomon and Saturn II, have often been read as a single, continuous poem. They are considered some of the most enigmatic and difficult poems of the Old English corpus.

The so-called Prose Solomon and Saturn in Cotton Vitellius A.xv is a question-and-answer text dealing chiefly with issues of biblical or Christian lore. It shares much similarity with the later Middle English Master of Oxford Catechism.

Solomon and Saturn I, Solomon and Saturn II, and the Pater Noster Solomon and Saturn) in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge MS 422 are often compared to the Vafþrúðnismál and Alvíssmál and other similar poems in the Poetic Edda.

The poetic versions have been cited as an example of orientalism with the suggestion that it screens anxieties about the cultural identity of the English people. Kathryn Powell claims that at the time it was preserved in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, England was beset by anxieties about the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, the stability of the kingdom and the efficacy of religious faith. She argues that by displacing ignorance, political instability and lack of faith onto the Eastern and pagan Chaldean people as represented by Saturn, English people were encouraged to identify with ideals and behaviours of the Christianised figure of Solomon. This is cited as an example of bolstering English Christian culture through degrading the east.

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