Myth of Etana

The Mythe of Etana is a legend sumérienne having for main character Etana, the king of Kish, which hopelessly tries to obtain a son to succeed to him. This text alas reached us in an incomplete state, and the end is missing.

The account starts with the history of a snake and an eagle, dependant of friendship before the second does not eat the children of the first. This one will seek council near Utu, the god-sun, which says to him to trap the eagle while hiding in the corpse of an ox, and to wait until the bird approaches, to capture it. It is what the snake made, before throwing the eagle in a hole after having molesté it to prevent it from flying away, and it decays.

At this point in time enters in scene Etana, king de Kish. This one wishes a son ardently. For that, it makes a request with Utu, which is also requested by the eagle to come to him to assistance. Killing two birds with one stone, he says to Etana that the solution would be to obtain a " plant enfantement" , which is with the Sky, where the gods reside. To go in this place inaccessible to the mortals, the god advises to him to leave the eagle the hole, to look after it, and that then this one would help it to find it. Initially, the eagle does not want to help it. It yields only after Etana lengthily beseeched it.

Etana thus flies away towards the Sky on the back of the eagle. After a long flight, he does not see any more the Earth, and approaches the Sky. He finds in the Sky the goddess of the femininity of which he requires the gift of the fertility (" plant enfantement"). That Ci accepts. With the gift of the Etana fertility makes sure the capacity of the succession. The royal Liste sumérienne indicates that Etana had a son like successor. Etana becomes the first king of the history. Version masucline of the worship dedicated to femininity.

This myth, found in many civilizations (at various times, from -3000 to -10.000), symbolizes the passage of the companies of the matriarchy to the patriarchate.

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