Etana Myth

Akkadian narrative poem attested in Old Babylonian (Susa), Middle Assyrian (Assur), and Neo-Assyrian (Nineveh) recensions. Set at Kish after the Anunnaki and Igigi establish the institution of kingship on earth, it tells how the childless shepherd-king Etana rescues a wounded eagle from a pit at the guidance of the sun god Shamash and ascends on the eagle's wings toward the Heaven of An and Ishtar to obtain the "Plant of Birth" (šammu ša alādi) and secure a royal heir.

Core Themes

• Prologue describing how the great Anunnaki designed the first city and lowered the crown, tiara, and scepter of kingship to Kish (recorded also in the Sumerian King List as "he who ascended to heaven").
• Fable of the eagle and the serpent: the eagle breaks its oath before Shamash by devouring the serpent's young, is cast wingless into a pit by the serpent, and is healed by Etana.
• Vision of earth shrinking into a garden plot and watering ditch as Etana flies upward through the heavens toward the throne of Ishtar.

Primary Text & Editions

• Untranslated Akkadian (cuneiform & transliteration): electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) — Etana Myth (OB, MA & NA Recensions)
• English translation: eBL Parallel English Translation; Dalley, S. 2000. Myths from Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press, pp. 189–202.
• Primary tablet witnesses (CDLI): Nineveh (K.2606+), Assur & Morgan Library tablets on CDLI
• Critical edition: Kinnier Wilson, J. V. 1985. The Legend of Etana: A New Edition. Warminster: Aris & Phillips; Haul, M. 2000. Das Etana-Epos (GAAL 1). Göttingen; Novotny, J. R. 2001. The Standard Babylonian Etana Epic (SAACT 2).

Related Concepts & Sources

Etana (king of Kish), Shamash (god of oaths and justice), Ishtar (mistress of the Plant of Birth), Kish (royal seat), Heaven (destination of the flight)