Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree
In approximately 2000 BCE (with copies dating back even earlier), we have the poem myth Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree, a Sumerian tablet from Ur. This is said to be the earliest known dragon-slaying myth, involving the Goddess Inanna, a Huluppu tree, an uncharmable snake as well as a fire-breathing bird (Anzu) and Lillith. The parallels to this story are obvious to the Garden of Eden story when compared.
One day, the goddess Inanna was walking along the bank of the river Euphrates when she noticed a great huluppu tree that had once been planted on the banks, but had since been uprooted by the South Wind, floating down the river. The goddess retrieved the tree from the river and planted it in her garden, carefully tending to the tree with adoration and love. She had intended for the tree to recover and strengthen, and grow quite large, so she could one day make a throne and a bed for herself from it's wood.
However, as the tree grew, a dragon (or uncharmable snake, depending on the version you read), began nesting in the roots of the tree, the fire-breathing Anzu bird nested it's young on the branches of the tree, and the mad-woman Lilith had made her home in it's trunk. Infuriated that she cannot have the tree for her own means when she was the one to take care of it so, Inanna enlists the aid of her brother, Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh comes in lofty armour, slaying the dragon, chasing away the Anzu bird and it's young to the mountains, and driving off Lilith from her home to the desert. He proceeds to cut down the tree and builds from it the intended bed and throne for his sister, and for himself, creates two magical wooden objects called pukku and mikku. Gilgamesh is praised and seen as a hero for his acts.
Image: Huluppu Tree by Ian Chambers
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