Šakkan

Šakkan (also Schakkan ) is the name of the god of herd and steppe animals in Mesopotamian mythology . Its strength and its fur-like appearance manifested itself in the animals of the steppe. In the Gilgamesh epic , Šakkan is compared with Enkidu and is mentioned, among other things, as the god of the underworld Kurnugia in the house of Irkalla . The steppe was considered as inhospitable as the realm of the dead.

“(In the Irkalla house) sits Etana , there sits Šakkan, there sits the queen of the underworld, Ereškigal , (and) Bēlet-sēri , accountant of the underworld, lies on her knees in front of her."

- Epic of Gilgamesh, 7th plate, 202-204

literature

• Stefan M. Maul : The Gilgamesh Epos , Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-52870-8