''Oedipus Judaicus'' by William Drummond was first published in 1811 in a limited edition of 200 copies. The book was originally intended for use in a scholastic setting in an attempt to protect Drummond's political career from ridicule. The work is a commentary on a supposed

astrological allegory An ''astrological allegory'' is an allegory (a story conveying a symbolic meaning instead of a literal one) based on astrology, that is, the movement of stars and planets as seen from the Earth. The most common symbols are the movements of the Sun a ...

in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

of the Bible, patterned after the ''

Oedipus Aegyptiacus ''Oedipus Aegyptiacus'' is Athanasius Kircher's supreme work of Egyptology. The three full folio tomes of ornate illustrations and diagrams were published in Rome over the period 1652–54. Kircher cited as his sources Chaldean astrology, He ...

'' of

Kircher Kircher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Al Kircher (1909–2004), American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach *Alexander Kircher (1867–1939), Austrian-German marine and landscape painter and illustrator * ...

. In the book, Drummond seeks possible sources of the Biblical writings, from the Temple of Denderah to parallels with the

Roman god Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

s, dealing primarily with the 49th chapter of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and the

book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

to draw his conclusions. The book was reprinted in 1866 and again in 1986, and is again in print.

External articles and references

The Oedipus Judaicus
Entire text at

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1811 non-fiction books Religious studies books Astrological texts Books about the Bible {{astrology-stub