Lugalbanda and the Anzod Bird: The Sumerian Hero's Journey

Lugalbanda and the Anzod Bird is a Sumerian myth from the Ur III period (c. 2112-2004 BC) that depicts the Uruk hero Lugalbanda, father of Gilgamesh, in his younger years as an honorable officer in the army. Lugalbanda's purity of spirit and kindness to the children of the great bird are emphasized as qualities worthy of a future king.

Lugalbanda and the Anzod Bird is a Sumerian myth from the Ur III period (c. 2112 to c. 2004 BC) that depicts the Uruk hero Lugalbanda, father of Gilgamesh, in his younger years as an honorable officer in the army. Lugalbanda's purity of spirit and kindness to the children of the great bird are emphasized as qualities worthy of a future king.

This story is the last story in the Sumerian epic cycle known as the Arata theme about King Anmerkar of Uruk and his struggles with the ruler of the city of Arata:

Also known as Lugalbanda and the Bird of Enzo and Lugalbanda II, it continues the story of a brave warrior of Enmerkar's army, told in Lugalbanda in a mountain cave (also known as Lugalbanda I), who through his piety and compassion overcomes illness and other trials, triumphing with the magical Encarta.

The works that make up the Arata material are considered central to the development of Mesopotamian literature, and Lugalbanda's character resonates in the stories of his son Gilgamesh, who strives to become the man and king that his father was. Today, the poetic cycle is understood as the hero's journey, and Lugalbanda and the bird will soon be the conclusion in which the central character reaches his goal.

At Lugalbanda in a mountain cave, Anmerkar is leading his forces towards the city of Arata when his commander, Lugalbanda, falls ill. Unable to continue, he stayed in the mountains and was healed there by faith and prayers to the gods. Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird opens with the hero unable to tell where he is or how to join his troops. He decides to seek help from Anzod, a divine bird that lives in the mountains. Anzod is so big and strong that his wings bring a storm and he is so fierce that his breath is fire.

Anzod tells Lugalbanda to wish whatever he wants and the hero wants speed and endurance.

However, Lugalbanda, feeling that he has no other choice, searches for the bird's nest and finds it in a bad state and the young are soon starving. He feeds the young bird and rebuilds the nest to make it look "like God's house" (line 91).

When Anzod returns, he promises to correct the "fate" of anyone who has done him this kindness. He tells Lugalbanda to wish for whatever he wants, and that the hero wants speed and endurance so that he can move wherever he wants "like sunlight."

The bird grants his wish and then accompanies him to find his forces, warning Lugalbanda not to tell anyone about his gift. Anzod sees the army in camp and tells Lugalbanda how to find them before returning to his lair. When Lugalbanda rejoins the troops, he finds Anmarkar disheartened and about to withdraw from the siege of Arata. The king needs reassurance from the goddess Inanna that he is doing the right thing, but Inanna can only consult far away, in Uruk.

Lugalbanda is asked to return to the city and secure the goddess's blessings, insisting that she go alone so that she can use her new gift without being seen. He goes to Uruk, where Inanna tells him that Enmerkar must cut down a yew tree from the riverbank for him and catch a special fish and sacrifice it to him, then he will win. The tablet malfunctions after praising Lugalbanda, but it is assumed that he delivered the message and Arata was successfully captured by Anmerkar.

Although literary compositions at this time usually ended in praise of Nisaba, the goddess of writing, this work ends in praise of Lugalbanda. Admittedly, the original tablet may have ended with a traditional praise of the goddess, but because of Lugalbanda's divine status (later deified), it likewise ended with a praise of the future king—husband of the goddess Ninson and father of the hero Gilgamesh—whose service to others in humility made him worthy, not just boastful.

The following text is taken from Ancient Sumerian Literature, translated by Jeremy Black et al., and the Electronic Text Collection of Sumerian Literature, translated by ibid. An oval indicates missing lines or words. Before the two joined as one city, Colaba was a district of Uruk (here given as Unug). Due to space considerations, only the 184 lines to the conclusion are included here, beginning with Anzod's gift to Lugalbanda.

184-202. And so he says to the holy Lugalbanda: "May the power of running be in your thighs! Never be weary! May the power be in your bosom! Stretch out your arms, may your arms never grow weak! Move like the sun, like Inanna, like the seven storms of Iskuru, like the leaping flame, like the thunderbolt wherever you look, wherever you want to reach! Whatever your heart desires, wherever your heart calls you." widen your shoes, when Otho allows you to be famous, when you consider my carvings, my name will become famous in Sumer. May you shake ... like sandals ..."

203-219. He took his food that he had not eaten and his weapons one by one. Then he flew high, Lugalbanda walked on the ground. The bird, looking down, spies on the soldiers. Lugalbanda, looking down, spies the dust kicked up by the soldiers. The bird says to Lugalbanda: "Come now, my Lugalbanda. I give you advice: let my advice be heeded. I give you words: keep them in mind. Tell not to your comrades what I have told you, the fate I have appointed for you, do not explain it to your brothers. Fair fortune may hide it. Leave me to my nest: you to your troops." You keep it. The bird hurried to its nest.

220-237. Like a pelican emerging from a sacred reed, like the gods of Lahama rising from Abzu, like one who steps from heaven to earth, Lugalbanda walked among the chosen armies of his brothers. His brothers talked to each other. The forces spoke to each other. His brothers, his friends bore him with questions: “Come now, my Lugelbanda, here you are again! The soldiers had left you as a dead in the war. Surely you would not eat the good fat of the herd! Surely you wouldn't eat fresh sheep's cheese. How is it that you have come back from the great mountains, where no one goes alone, from where no one returns to humanity?” Again his brothers and friends bore him with questions: “The banks of the mountain rivers, many mothers, are far apart. How did you get through them? - It's like you're drinking from them?"

238-250. The holy Lugalbanda answers them: "The banks of the mountain rivers, mothers of abundance, are widely separated. I stepped over them with my feet, I drank them like water from a skin. And then I growled like a wolf, I grazed the meadows, I pecked the ground like a wild dove, I ate the mountain oaks. Lugalbanda's brothers and friends consider what he said to them. He is like a gamgam chick sitting in its nest, they feed him and drink him. They keep disease away from the holy Lugalbanda.

251-283. Then Aunog's men followed them as one. They wound their way through the hills like a snake on a pile of grain. When the city was only two hours away, Unug and Kulaba's army camped by the posts and ditches that surrounded Arata. From the city, spears rained down as if from the clouds, numerous slingshots, as the raindrops that fell in a whole year fell loudly from the walls of Arata. The days passed, the months got longer, the year ended. The yellow harvest grew under the sky. They looked askance at the fields. Unhappiness came to them. Numerous slingshots fell on the road as raindrops that fall in a whole year. They were surrounded by a barrier of mountain thorns filled with dragons. No one knew how to get back to the city, nor was he in a hurry to get back to Colaba. Among them, Anmerkar son of Otto was afraid, worried, saddened by this sadness. He searched for someone who could take him back to the city, searched for someone who could take him back to Colaba. No one told him I will go to the city. No one told him I will go to Kolabe. He went to the foreign host. No one told him I will go to the city. No one told him I will go to Kolabe. He stood up to the elite forces. No one told him I will go to the city. No one told him I will go to Kolabe. The second letter went to the foreign host. No one told him I will go to the city. No one told him I will go to Kolabe. He came out ahead of the elite forces.

284-289. Lugalbanda rose alone from among the people and said to him, "My king, I will go to the city, but no one will go with me, I will go alone to Colaba, no one will go with me." - If you go to the city, no one will go with you, go to Kolaba alone, no one will go with you. He swore to heaven and earth: "Swear not to let go of the great logos of Kolabe."

290-321. After he stood before the summoned assembly, inside the palace that stood like a great mountain on the earth, Anmerkar son of Otto rebuked Inanna: "Once upon a time my holy princess sister Inanna summoned me in her sacred heart from the bright mountains, asked me to enter the brick kolaba. Where there was a marsh, where a marsh was full of water. Where old reeds and young reeds grew, old reeds for me. Torn, fifty years from which I left the desert like a bird's net, but now, in this place, my forces are closed to me, but like a cowherd who leaves her city in hatred, my holy prince Inanna has fled from me and is made into a brick. If she loves her city and hates me, why does she close the city to me? If she hates the city and loves me at the same time, why does she close me to the city? "If he takes his mistress from me to his sacred cell, and leaves me like a hen, at least bring me home to the brick-house: on that day my spear may break my shield. Speak thus to my princely sister."

322-344. After that, the holy Lugalbanda came out of the palace. Although his brothers and comrades barked at him like a foreign dog trying to join a pack of dogs, he marched forward proudly like a foreign wild donkey trying to join a herd of wild donkeys. "Send another to Unug for the master." - "I will go to Colaba alone for Anmerkar son of Otto. No one will go with me" - how he spoke to them. "Why do you go alone and do not accompany anyone on the journey? If our gracious Spirit is not with you there, if our good God is not with you there, you will never stand with us where we stand, you will never dwell with us where we dwell, you will never set your feet on the ground where our feet are. You will not return from the great mountains where no one goes alone, where no one returns to humanity!” - "I know time is passing. None of you will go with me on the great land." While the hearts of his brothers were beating wildly, while the hearts of his comrades were sinking, Lugelbanda took his uneaten provisions and each of his weapons in his hands one by one. From the slopes of the mountains, through the high mountains to the flat land, from the edge of them to the top of them, he traveled five, six, seven mountains.

345-356. At midnight, but before the votive table was brought to Saint Inanna, he joyfully stepped into the brick kolaba. His lady, holy Inanna, sat there on her cushion. He bowed and prostrated on the ground. Inanna looked with (1 ms. adds:) joyful eyes upon the holy Lugalbanda as she looked upon the shepherd Ama-ušumgal-ana. "Come now, my Lugalbanda, why do you bring news from the city? How come you come here alone from Arata?", Inanna spoke to the holy Lugalbanda in a cheerful voice as she spoke to her son Lord Shara.

357-387. The holy Lugalbanda answered him: "Anmerkar son of Otto Kuveth and what he says, your brother says and says, this is: Once upon a time my holy princess sister Inanna called me to her sacred heart from the mountains, brought me into the brick kolaba." Where there was a marsh, where in Ang, there were dry lands. Where the reed groves had grown, the old reeds and the young reeds that are in Eridu, they tore for me, the fifty years that I built successfully, then the people of Martu, who do not know agriculture, arose in all Sumer and Akkad. But the Unug wall stretches across the desert like a bird's net. But now, here in this place, my attraction to him has waned. My troops are tied like cattle to their calves. But like a boy who hates his mother and leaves his city, my holy princess sister Inanna has run away from me and is returning to brick Colaba. If he loves his city and hates me, why does he close the city to me? If he hates the city and loves me at the same time, why does he bind me to the city? If her mistress takes me from me to her sacred cell, and abandons me like a hen, at least she will bring me home to a brick kolaba: on that day my spear will be laid aside. On that day he may break my shield. "Speak thus to my princess's sister, holy Inanna."

388-398. Saint Inanna replied: "Now, at the end, on the shores, in the water meadows, from a clear river, from a river of clear water, from a river that is the skin of the shining water of Inanna, the Suhormash fish eats the honey plant. The toad eats the mountain oaks. And ... the fish, which is the fish god suḫurmaš, happily plays there and darts around it. With its scaly tail it touches the old reeds of that holy place. The geese of that place, according to their number, drink water from that pond.

399-408. "He stands alone, he stands alone! One of the tamaris stands alone on the side! When Anmercar, son of Otto, has cut that stick and is making it into a bucket, he must tear the old reeds of that holy place and collect them all in his hands. When he casts out the fish that is the fish-god Suhormas, catches it, cooks it, decorates it, and brings it as a sacrifice to the weapon of a-an-kar, the fighting power of Inanna, then his forces will have success for him. Then he will finish what he gives in the subterranean waters of Arata's life force."

409-412. "If he takes away from the city the working metal and its smith, if he takes away the worked stones and its masons, if he rebuilds and settles the city, all the molds of Arata belong to him."

413-416. Now Arata's battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its towering walls and brickwork bright red, its adobe made of tinstone quarried in the mountains where cedars grow.

This human-written article has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our editorial policy.

Bertman, S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Black, J. et al. Ancient Sumerian literature. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Kramer, S. N. History begins in Sumer. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.

Kramer, S. N. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. University of Chicago Press, 1971.

Oppenheim, A. L. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization University of Chicago Press, 1977.

Electronic Text Collection of Sumerian Literature/Logalbanda and the Anzod Bird, accessed 13 October 2026.

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Joshua J. Mark is the co-founder and content director of the Encyclopedia of World History. He was previously a professor at Marist College (NY), where he taught history, philosophy, literature, and writing. He has traveled a lot and lived in Greece and Germany.

Lugalbanda and the Anzod Bird is a Sumerian poem and the last chapter of the Sumerian literary epic known as the Arata theme, which depicts the struggle between the king of Uruk and the king of the city of Arata.

What is Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird about?

Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird depicts the hero Lugalbanda who selflessly helps the children of the great bird of Mount Anzud, who is then rewarded with incredible endurance and speed. Lugalbanda uses these gifts in the service of his king and is believed to be used for peace in resolving issues between the cities of Uruk and Arata.

When was Lugalbanda and Parandeh Anzod made?

Lugalbanda and the Anzod Bird, like other poems on the Aratha theme, are thought to have been composed during the Ur III period (c. 2112 to c. 2004 BCE), possibly to link the kings of that dynasty with a prominent hero-king (Lugalbanda) in the past.