Several pre-biblical protagonists appearing in Mesopotamian myths are identified as being fused together and recast as the Garden of Eden's serpent.
From 1854-2010 some Liberal PhD scholars employing an Anthropological viewpoint have suggested that behind Eden's Serpent may be an earlier protagonist appearing in a much different form in Mesopotamian myths. Their proposals are noted as to who this fictional character might have been. The biblical Garden of Eden story is understood to be fictional, a recast of earlier myths about the gods' city-gardens in the Edin of ancient Sumer worked by man on the gods' behalf.