Elder son of Isaac, he is remembered for having sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Also, Genesis reports that his brother and mother tricked his father into giving the inheritance and the paternal blessing to his younger brother, Jacob rather than to him.

brother to the biblical Jacob and putative head of the Edomites

(Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage

The son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. Born before his twin, the birthright blessing of Isaac should have gone to him, but he sold it to Jacob for the price of a bowl of lentil soup. He did not follow in his parent's ways and legend has it he became the forefather of the Roman empire.