Mesopotamian PantheonHero
Etana
Legendary early king of Kish, recorded in the Sumerian King List as "the shepherd who ascended to heaven," and hero of the Myth of Etana, who flew on the back of an eagle in search of a plant that would let his wife bear him an heir.
About Etana
A Shepherd Who Ascended to Heaven
The Sumerian King List, a text that blends genuine early rulers with clearly legendary ones, names Etana as a king of the first dynasty of Kish after the great flood, giving him the striking epithet "the shepherd who ascended to heaven." The Myth of Etana, a separate composition surviving in Old Babylonian, Middle Assyrian, and Neo-Assyrian versions (the latter from Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, seventh century BCE), tells the story behind that epithet, though every surviving copy is damaged, and no single tablet preserves the whole text.
The Eagle and the Serpent
The myth opens with an unrelated fable: an eagle and a serpent swear an oath of friendship and agree to share their hunting, but the eagle breaks the pact by eating the serpent's young. The serpent, with the sun god Shamash's help, traps and injures the eagle in punishment. Later, Etana, troubled that he has no heir, prays to Shamash, who directs him to the wounded eagle. Etana nurses the eagle back to health, and in gratitude the eagle offers to carry him to heaven to find the "plant of birth" that will let his wife conceive.
An Ending Lost to Damage
Riding the eagle, Etana ascends through the successive heavens associated with Anu, Enlil, and Ishtar, growing more anxious at the shrinking view of the earth below with every stage of the climb. At the point where the surviving tablets are most badly damaged, the story breaks off; reconstructions disagree on whether Etana reaches the plant and returns safely or falls back to earth with the eagle, a fate that would parallel other flight-and-fall stories such as Bellerophon's. The Sumerian King List's own record of a son, Balih, succeeding Etana as king suggests the quest for an heir eventually succeeded by some means, but the myth's own ending is not securely established from what survives.
On parentage: No parentage details survive for Etana in either the Sumerian King List or the Myth of Etana; he is presented as a legendary early king rather than the child of a named mortal or deity.
Key deeds
- Prayed to the sun god Shamash for an heir and was directed to a wounded eagle
- Nursed the injured eagle back to health after its punishment for breaking a vow
- Flew on the eagle's back through the successive heavens in search of the plant of birth
- Is named in the Sumerian King List as an early king of Kish who "ascended to heaven"
Fate
The climax of the Myth of Etana is lost to damage on every surviving tablet. Some reconstructions have Etana and the eagle fall back to earth after flying too high; the Sumerian King List's record of his son Balih succeeding him suggests the quest for an heir succeeded in some form, but the myth's own ending is not known with confidence.
Across traditions
Parallel figures
Heroes and gods who play a part like Etana's in other traditions.
Greek PantheonBellerophonIllustrationBoth heroes attempt a flight to the heavens on a winged creature in pursuit of a personal goal, and both stories turn on an ambiguous or diminished outcome once the climb goes too far.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Sumerian King List (Old Babylonian copies)
- Myth of Etana, Neo-Assyrian recension
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.
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