How old is etana?

Answer 1

Etana was listed on the Sumerian King's List as a ruler of Kish for approximately 1500 years. There is some degree of uncertainty in the translation of the dates on the List, where the number might actually be half that. While most modern scholars would assume ruling for this long to be mythological, it fails to take into account the spiritual aspect of such people. Though the typical individual today will not boast of reincarnation and recollection prior to birth because today's mental health practitioners label that for their own convenience as delusional, it is not an atypical concept for any generation of human society. Additionally, the ability to retain knowledge from life to life should greatly assist a person's ability to evaluate the nature of man, and should therefore be well respected in a leadership position. Other parts of the Etana story are certainly errors in translation and so have descended into myth. However, if Etana ruled for 1500 years (or even just 650 years) he would not have done so in one body, but in a series of them.