Editing World tree (section)

=== Mesopotamian traditions ===
==== Sumerian culture ====
Professor Amar Annus states that, although the motif seems to originate much earlier, its first attestation in world culture occurred in [[Sumerian literature]], with the tale of "[[Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld]]".<ref name=Annus2009/> According to this tale, goddess Innana transplants the [[Inanna#The huluppu tree|''huluppu'' tree]] to her garden in the City of Uruk, for she intends to use its wood to carve a throne. However, a snake "with no charm", a ghostly figure ([[Lilith]] or [[Lilu (mythology)|another character]] associated with darkness) and the legendary [[Anzû]]-bird make their residence on the tree, until Gilgamesh kills the serpent and the other residents escape.<ref name=Annus2009/><ref name=Lintrop2001/>

==== Akkadian literature ====
In fragments of the story of [[Etana]], there is a narrative sequence about a snake and an eagle that live on opposite sides of a poplar tree (''şarbatu''), the snake on its roots, the eagle on its foliage. At a certain point, both animals swear before deity [[Shamash]] and share their meat with each other, until the eagle's hatchlings are born and the eagle decides to eat the snake's young ones. In revenge, the snake alerts god Shamash, who agrees to let the snake punish the eagle for the perceived affront. Later, Shamash takes pity on the bird's condition and sets hero Etana to release it from its punishment. Later versions of the story associate the eagle with mythical bird [[Anzû]] and the snake with a serpentine being named [[Bašmu]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Winitzer|first=Abraham|title=Etana in Eden: New Light on the Mesopotamian and Biblical Tales in Their Semitic Context|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=133|date=2013|pages=444–445|doi=10.7817/JAMERORIESOCI.133.3.0441}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Valk|first=Jonathan|date=2021|title=The Eagle and the Snake, or Anzû and bašmu? Another Mythological Dimension in the Epic of Etana|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=140|issue=4|pages=889–900|doi=10.7817/jameroriesoci.140.4.0889|s2cid=230537775}}.</ref>