About 5,000 years ago, ancient Sumer was ruled by the legendary King Etana, a personality who was later depicted many times on Sumerian tablets and seals. Etana, in particular, was famous for visiting the gods at least once in heaven.
When it comes to myths and stories from deep antiquity, one of the most fascinating is the story of Etana, the ruler of Sumer.
This story, written about 4,000 years ago in cuneiform on a claycuneiform on a clay tablet, tells the story of how King Etana ascended to heaven to solve a problem that needed immediate consideration.
King Etana, who ruled in the early 3rd millennium B.C., was personally chosen by the gods as ruler of the city of Kish and was the first king from Kish in a long list of Sumerian kings. The gods also gave him the power and authority to establish rules and order on Earth among the people.
Etana had the nickname “He Who Gathered the Earth” and did so under the supervision and sanction of the Gods, who generally formulated and established the concepts of royalty and government for human civilization.
King Etana was greatly respected by the people and was very God-fearing; he performed all religious rituals with great reverence and respect.
So what made him go to the gods to speak directly to them?
The story of King Etana begins with lines about how the gods founded and built the city of Kish. Once the city was built, the gods began their search for a worthy ruler who could effectively govern Kish. In the end, Inanna/Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility and war, chose Etana as ruler.
Etana was doing well as king, only one thing troubled him, he was childless, and there was no way he could solve that problem. Somehow he knew that he could be helped by a certain “birth plant” that grows above by the gods, but how to get to heaven, he did not know.
One day Etana was walking around and saw a hole with an eagle sitting at the bottom of it. The eagle could not get out of the pit because he had been thrown there by the gods as punishment for eating the cubs of the sacred serpent. Etana decided to save the eagle, whereupon the eagle told him that he could help his problem and take Etana to heaven.