rom his rash intention, but the
warning comes too late. Etana and the eagle are thrown down from the
lofty regions. With lightning speed the descent takes place, until the
two reach the ground. The further course of the narrative is obscure.
Was Etana punished by being sent to the nether world, where we find him
in the Gilgamesh epic?[1027] There is a reference, unfortunately quite
obscure, to the death of Etana, and perhaps to his shade,[1028] in a
portion of the tablet. One certainly expects both Etana and the eagle to
be punished for their rash act, but until we can determine with
certainty what became of both, and with what purport the tale is
introduced into the career of Etana, the question must be left open, as
also the possibility of a connection between this flight of Etana and
the similar Greek myth of Ganymede. The introduction of the eagle points
clearly to the mythological character of the tale, but flights of eagles
occur so frequently in the myths and legends of various nations that no
great stress is to be laid upon further parallels that might be
adduced.[1029] The story found in Aelian and which has already been
referred to[1030] alone calls for mention here. According to this story,
Gilgamesh, whose birth is feared by his cruel grandfather Sokkaros, king
of Babylonia, is thrown from the tower where his mother was imprisoned
and in which he was born, but in falling is caught by an eagle and taken
to a gardener who rears the child. The eagle being the associate of
Etana, the suspicion is justified that the child thus miraculously saved
is in reality Etana and not Gilgamesh. At all events, there must be some
connection between the story of Aelian and the Babylonian legend under
consideration. The fate of the eagle is recounted in another tablet of
the Etana series,[1031] which again furnishes an episode paralleled in
the mythologies of other nations.

The eagle has lost favor with Shamash. Enmity has arisen between the
eagle and the serpent, and, curiously enough, the latter stands under
the protection of the sun-god. What the cause of the enmity between
eagle and serpent was, may have been recounted in a missing portion of
the tablet. The eagle forms a plan of destroying the serpent's brood. He
is warned against this act by a young eagle, who is designated as a
'very clever young one.'

Do not eat, O my father, the net of Shamash is laid (?);
The trap, the ban of Shamash, will fall upon thee and ca