Interpretation of the Etana Myth

The story is laid out as a riddle. Etana asked for the plant of birth, so he only asked for a successor. Instead, the eagle gave him the plant of life, which meant that he was granted immortality. For doing this, he carried Etana to the heaven of the gods, where an unsealed house with an empty throne was already waiting for him. Another interpretation is that Etana was already immortal, but had forgotten this. The eagle helped him to remember and then brought him to the heaven of the gods.

The plant of life, also known as the tree of life, is probably the poplar tree that stands under the protection of the shrine to Addad. The tree was there the whole time, but it needs its inhabitant, the eagle, to fulfill its purpose. It could not fulfill its purpose earlier because the eagle was thrown into a pit. For further interpretations see Wellmann (2023).