THE SUN-GOD AND THE BIRD-MAN. 107 
two belong to the same legend as Jastrow supposes, that Shamash is connected. 
The myth of Etana and the eagle is treated at length in Chapter xxu1. First Etana 
prays to Shamash for the plant of birth which will allow his wife to bring forth her 
child. “The extremely imperfect state of the tablets allows us here to learn simply 
that Shamash directed Etana to the mountain where the plant would be found. 
Etana’s companion, the eagle, seems to have assisted him in finding the plant. 
It appears to be in a subsequent portion of the story that the eagle tempts Etana 
to mount upon his back and be carried to the heaven of Anu, Bel, and Ea. Then 
they ascend higher to the realm of Ishtar. But this displeases the gods, or perhaps 
Ishtar, and before reaching her abode they are hurled downward. What becomes 
of them is not told in the fragments preserved; but the eagle does not seem to have 
been killed, for we find his fate described in another fragment, that which tells 
of the feud between the eagle and the serpent. Here the eagle seems to have lost 
the favor of the gods, which is given to the serpent. The eagle, having for some 
reason a spite against the serpent, consumes its brood. ‘Thereupon the serpent 
appeals to Shamash and begs the Sun-god to catch the eagle in his all-embracing 
net. Shamash bids the serpent hide himself in the body of a wild ox, and when the 
eagle should come to feed on its flesh the serpent was to seize him. The story tells 
how this was accomplished and the eagle seized. ‘The eagle begged for mercy, 
which is refused. His wings and feathers are torn off and he is left to die, at least 
presumably so, inasmuch as that is what Shamash directed the serpent to do. 
This story shows evident signs of having been edited and changed from its 
original form by the priests who arranged it in the recension which has come down 
tous. It is clear that while it is the revenge of the serpent which has accomplished 
the will of the god, it is yet the “net” of Shamash which captured and would seem to 
have slain the eagle. The close connection here between Shamash and the eagle— 
and in one fragment we learn that Shamash spoke to the eagle—makes it appear 
quite likely that it was the eagle of Etana which was brought before Shamash, rather 
than the Zu-bird, whose relations were not at all with Shamash. For I think there 
is no doubt that the seated god with streams and fish is Shamash. He is the same 
god whom we saw standing in fig. 291 and clothed with all the specific attributes 
of the rising sun, the god whose special office it was to judge offenders, whether 
gods or men. We may have here another type of the legend from that which is 
given in the texts as published by George Smith, E. ‘T. Harper, and Jastrow, one 
in which the eagle was not slain immediately, but was disarmed and brought for 
judgment to the Sun-god, usually led by two captors, but in one case swung by his 
foot from the club of his captor. We must not forget, however, that in fig. 300a it is 
a lion-headed culprit that is led for judgment to Shamash. 
