Animal agents in Sumerian literature

Animals have a minor role / are poorly represented in Sumerian narratives, apart from their presence in specific literary genres such as disputes and the so-called “fables”, where they play a role in a moral pedagogic context. An important exception to this is the rare but crucial intervention of animals in myths. In this paper I will analyse the episodes in which an animal solves a problem that seemed unsolvable or helps the hero by playing the role of the deus ex machina of the Greek tragedy or that of the magical helper in fairy tales. I will discuss the role these animal actors play in four Sumerian myths: the bird Anzu in the Lugalbanda in the cave, the fox and the fly in Enki and Nihursaĝa and Inanna’s descent to the Netherworld, and the crow in Inanna and Šukaletuda.