Page 311 of 368
308 4 I moaen Fig. 100 Can this reference, in the exact crucial year, be other than to Abraham and his shepherding abode? There is also a possible pictorial commemoration of the inva- sion. This is a scene carved on a Sumerian cylinder seal (Fig. 101). It has been regarded as depicting the journey of Etana, an early king of Kish, to the Winged Gateway, where an "Eagle" took him aloft so high that the Earth disappeared from view. But the seal de- picts the crowned hero on horseback—too early for Etana's time— and standing between the site of the Winged Gateway and two distinct groups. One of four armed Mighty Men whose leader is also on horseback moves toward a cultivated area in the Sinai pen- insula (indicated by the symbol of Sin's crescent with wheat grow- ing in it). The other is of five kings, facing in the opposite direction. The depiction thus has all the elements of an ancient il- lustration of the War of the Kings and the role of the "Priest's Son" in it, rather than that of Etana's journey to the Spaceport. The hero, depicted in the center atop an animal, could thus be Abraham rather than Etana. Fig. 101 Having carried out his mission to protect the Spaceport, Abra- ham returned to his base near Hebron. Encouraged by his feat, the Canaanite kings marched their forces to intercept the retreating THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN