The Eagle and the Serpent - Mesopotamian Mythology/Folklore (Mythic Podcast)

The eagle was perhaps regarded as a symbol of the sun god. A Babylonian fable tells how he quarreled with the serpent and incurred the reptile's hatred. Feeling hungry, he resolved to eat the serpent's young and communicated his intention to his own family. One of his children advised him not to devour the serpent's brood, because if he did so he would incur the enmity of the god Shamash. But the eagle did not hearken to his offspring, and swooping down from heaven sought out the serpent's nest and devoured his young. On his arrival at home, the serpent discovered his loss and at once repaired in great indignation to Shamash, to whom he appealed for justice. His nest, he told the god, was set in a tree, and the eagle had swooped upon it, destroying it with his mighty wings and devouring the little serpents as they fell from it. O Shamash, cried the serpent, thy net is like unto the broad earth, thy snare is like unto the distant heaven in wideness. Who can escape thee, Shamash, hearkening to his appeal? Describe to him how he might succeed in obtaining vengeance upon the eagle. Take the road, said he, and go into the mountain, and hide thyself in the dead body of a wild ox. Tear open its body, and all the birds of heaven shall swoop down upon it. The eagle shall come with the rest, and when he seeks for the best parts of the carcass, do thou seize him by his wing, tear off his wings, his pinions, and his claws, pull him in pieces and cast him into a pit. There may he die a death from hunger and thirst. The serpent did as Shamash had bidden him. He soon came upon the body of a wild ox, into which he glided after opening up the carcass. Shortly afterwards he heard the beating of the wings of numberless birds, all of which swooped down and ate of the flesh. But the eagle suspected the purpose of the serpent and did not come with the rest, until greed and hunger prompted him to share in the feast. Come, said he to his children, let us swoop down and let us also eat of the flesh of this wild ox. Now the young eagle who had before dissuaded his father from devouring the serpent's young, again begged him to desist from his purpose. Have a care, O my father, he said, for I am certain that the serpent lurks in yonder carcass for the purpose of destroying you. But the eagle did not hearken to the warning of his child, but swooped on to the carcass of the wild ox. He so far obeyed the injunctions of his offspring, however, as closely to examine the dead ox for the purpose of discovering whether any trap lurked near it. Satisfied that all was well, he commenced to feed upon it, when suddenly the serpent seized upon him and held him fast. The eagle at once began to plead for mercy, but the enraged reptile told him that an appeal to shamash was irrevocable, and that if he did not punish the king of birds he himself would be punished by the god. Despite the eagle's further protests, he tore off his wings and pinions, pulled him to pieces, and finally cast him into a pit, where he perished miserably as the god had decreed.