Etana in Eden: new light on the Mesopotamian and Biblical Tales in their semitic context.

• Author: Winitzer, Abraham
• Position: Critical essay

This paper proposes an unnoted major link, between the Mesopotamian Etana legend and Genesis's Garden of Eden story by pointing to parallels between the two stories, apparent at different levels, from the structural to the lexical. Cumulatively these point to a dependence by the Eden story on Etana. though it is argued that the appreciation of these matters in tandem, as put forth in this study, serves mutually beneficial purposes. The identification of vestiges of Etana in Eden advances our understanding of Etana no less than of Eden. Most significantly, perhaps, the reciprocal consideration of Etana and Eden sheds light on the manner by which the ancients' reflection on language, respectively Akkadian and Hebrew, provided a key ingredient in the creation of both the Mesopotamian and Biblical tales--in a manner quintessential to the Semitic world.

Although its ancient Near Eastern roots are undeniable, the Hebrew Bible is understandably not the obvious choice for the clarification of native and more established traditions stemming from this same soil. As is well known, a legion of questions constitute ever-present challenges to the historical study of the Biblical text; these complicate, almost beyond hope, the possibility of the Bible's employment in the writing of most types of history. And yet it is a fact that the Bible not only continues to proclaim its indebtedness to its ancient Near Eastern ancestry, but on occasion even manages to say something previously unrecognized about the ancestors themselves. (1) From time to time the Biblical text is shown to preserve fragments from this world, fragments otherwise lost or overlooked, such that--if approached impartially, without blind faith in the dogma of a bygone age--the Bible can continue to open doors onto previously buried Near Eastern foundations.

Such, it is submitted, is the case with respect to the ancient Mesopotamian Etana legend. This study aims to demonstrate how an appreciation of this story's Nachleben in one of the most celebrated of Biblical traditions actually exposes new perspectives on the earlier Akkadian story. The tradition in question is none other than Genesis's Garden of Eden, (2) which, as evinced below, at several consequential points builds on materials from Etana. These points, once exposed, actually illuminate features of the Etana legend itself, particularly with respect to language and the role of language in the generation of literature. But that is not all. The Biblical Eden story also profits from this exchange, with the connections between Etana and Eden shedding new light on aspects of the Hebrew tale. 'No among these also involve the role of language in the creation of the Hebrew narrative from remnants of the Akkadian substratum.

More broadly, therefore, this study seeks to demonstrate how the philological study of ancient Near Eastern literatures can serve mutually illuminating purposes--again, if undertaken in a manner that does not compartmentalize individual languages and language communities. As a springboard into these larger matters, however, we begin with a small, curious detail from the Eden story (1I) and point to a tradition in Etana (upon reviewing the legend's storyline [[section]III]) that must stand behind it ([section]IV). From there additional connections between Etana and Eden are pointed to ([section]V), along with their implications for our understanding of both Etana (VI) and Eden (IX) in terms of their constituents and composition, along with the possible routes responsible for this apparent transmission ([section][section]VII-VIII). A parting observation ([section]X) concludes our journey.

II

Tucked away in the back end of Genesis's Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:4b-3:24) is a detail that receives scant attention by comparison to this classic tale's more memorable parts. This involves the mention of safeguards against man's return to the Garden, the east side of which, in order to oversee the path to the Tree of Life (3:24), Yahweh Elohim is said to have secured by way of kerubim and the lahat hahereb hammithappeket, or "flame of the whirling sword." The precise identification of these items proves difficult. Still, concerning the former--sphinx-like protective figures that are amply attested in the Bible, (3) suspected in Canaanite/Israelite iconography, (4) and with a likely etymological connection to the kuribu-genius found in cuneiform sourcess (5)--things are on relatively sound footing. More perplexing is the second mythologem, the one of interest here. To our knowledge its most recent treatment is that by R. Hendel, (6) whose sorting of previous opinions was of no small value for the present discussion.

According to Hendel, commentators have followed two basic interpretive lines concerning this item: one naturalistic, according to which the sword refers to a lightning bolt; the other folkloristic, assuming this is a magical weapon of Yahweh. Hendel, however, was dissatisfied with both options since, as he saw it, in either case an asymmetry remains between the (animate) kerubim and the (inanimate) "fiery sword." No better was the sword's understanding as having previously belonged to the kerubim, (7) since this ignores the text as it now stands. Against these options. Hendel posited that the image is comprised of a weapon-brandishing (hahereb hammithappeket) minor deity (lahat), and rests on a "parallel expression attached to the West Semitic god Resep, a god of war, pestilence, and fertility, whose name, incidentally, means 'flame'." (8) This expression, rsp hs in Phoenician. he understood as "Resep of the Arrow," (9) and deemed it "precisely parallel to the title of the guardian of the divine garden ..." (10) Seemingly unperturbed by the absence of "whirling" in his parallel. Hendel merely suggested that this is something sensible for a divine guardian envisaged as a flame. (11)

Problems, however, linger. First, not one of the proposed parallels--neither a putative deity lahat and its connection to Resep, nor the equation of hereb, "sword," with hs, "arrow," nor its unparalleled "whirling"--is secured in any compelling way. More troubling, however, is the fact that none of the solutions posited appears to have factored the story's setting into their schemes. To the contrary, commentators seem to have locked onto the Syro-Palestinian world for the visual context of both the Cherubim and the "whirling sword," even while a Mesopotamian background to Eden is almost universally acknowledged. And while for reasons already noted the hypothesis of a Canaanite/Israelite background for the Cherubim seems plausible enough, (12) the same cannot be a foregone conclusion in the case of the sword.

One factor for this oversight demands little explanation. The Eden tradition, even if Mesopotamian in background, is nonetheless not clear-cut in terms of its source(s), certainly not like those Primeval History episodes recounting the world's ordering in Gen. 1 in relation to Enuma Elis and breakdown in Gen. 6-9 with respect to Gilgames and Atrabasis. (13) When it comes to Eden things are considerably more complex, with the scents of distinct Mesopotamian traditions--again Gilgames and Atrahasis come to mind, (14) but also various elements from the so-called Enki mythology, (15) even Adapa (16)--detectable in the Biblical garden. And it is likely that further analysis of its potpourri will isolate additional species, some local in origin, but others undoubtedly imported, and with a Mesopotamian provenience. Indeed, what follows represents a case in the latter point.

The source in question is the Etana legend, a major belletristic composition from Mesopotamia according to ancient standards like the so-called Catalogue of Texts and Authors, where it appears immediately following Gitgames. (17) Unfortunately, owing to its texts' state of preservation, Etana's full plot remains wanting. For our purposes, happily, its basic outline, at least for the Standard Babylonian (SB) version, seems sufficiently well established. (18) It follows.

III

The story concerns the figure of Etana, whom the gods, having founded the city of Kis, select for its king. Paradoxically. Etana cannot have an heir, as his wife is smitten with a disease that (seemingly) renders her barren. This motivates him to seek a "plant of birth" (sammu sa aladi) of which Etana's wife has dreamt.

A major subplot, which later connects to Etana's quest, is now introduced. It tells of a snake and an eagle who, having settled in a poplar tree's roots and crown, agree to live mutually and hunt together, and swear an oath to this effect--in accordance with limits established by Samas. The covenant's transgressor, the parties agree, will suffer consequences: reprisal from Samas, along with the denial of entrance to bountiful mountains nearby. Two instruments will ensure this: a "roving weapon" (kakku murtappidu) will charge, while "traps" (gisparru) associated with "Samas's curse-oath" (mamit Samas) will clamp down and catch the guilty party.

Things proceed accordingly, until one day the eagle devours the snake's offspring. The bereft snake turns for justice to Samas. Samas suggests retribution: he will have a wild bull killed in the mountains in whose carcass the snake will then hide. From there the snake will attack the bird when, inevitably, it opts to feed on the animal's remains. Again events develop as predicted: the snake metes out punishment following Samas's instructions, cutting off the wings and painstakingly plucking out every feather from the eagle's body. The eagle, now trapped impotently in a pit, pleas for forgiveness. Samas eventually shows mercy, and sets Etana to save the bird. In so doing Etana will actually help his own cause, the god explains, since the rescued eagle will fly Etana to the heavens and reveal to him his coveted life-inducing plant. Etana, apparently frightened in flight, does not reach his goal, at least not...