Enheduanna (or Enheduana , En-hedu-ana or EnHeduAnna, 23rd century BC), Akkadian priestess and poetess, is the oldest writer whose name and part of the writings have come down to us.
Princess and priestess
Daughter of Sargon of Akkad, founding king of the Empire of Akkad or Empire of Agadê in Mesopotamia, Princess Enheduanna was born in the 23rd century BC; his father's reign is generally placed around 2334-2279 BC, or slightly later. Originally from the city of Akkad, Enheduanna is more likely the daughter of a concubine of Sargon, a Sumerian priestess of the moon god Nanna or Sîn, than of Queen Tašlutum.
Sargon shows great confidence in his daughter. To better control the Sumerian populations in the south, he sent her to the city of Ur, one of the most important Mesopotamian cities, to make her the high priestess of Nanna, the female moon goddess Ningal and the goddess of the love and war Inanna. Enheduanna is the first to bear this title of high priestess, which other princesses will bear in turn thereafter. Her name, adopted with her new role as High Priestess, possibly means "Noble Adornment of the God".
Ur, the rebel city
When his father died, presumably in 2279 BC, revolts broke out and his half-brother Rimush, son of Sargon, struggled to retain power. Enheduanna continues to hold office, although the city of Ur has revolted against Sargon's heir to the point of appointing a new king. The priestess would then have held her temple against a rebel named Lugal-Ane. For a while, she is exiled. She describes this situation in a prayer to the goddess Inanna, whom she begs to intercede with the father of all gods An and tell him about Lugal-Ane and his fate. Eventually Enheduanna was restored to her position and Rimush reconquered the rebel cities.
The oldest known writer.
Poetess in addition to priestess and princess, Enheduanna is known to have left religious hymns of which we still have traces today. Mainly dedicated to Inanna, these poems have been found on more than a hundred cuneiform tablets. She thus wrote The Victory of Inanna over the Ebih , The Valiant Goddess , Inanna's Exaltation but also a suite of 42 poems known as the Sumerian Temple Hymns . Although marked by devotion and prayer, these poems are more personal in style and reflect the personal reflections, hopes, despairs of their author. These hymns and poems, some of which are probably apocryphal, would be copied and re-copied for nearly 2,000 years, as the recovered tablets reveal. Other hymns to the god Nanna could also be attributed to him. These texts make her the oldest known writer.
Enheduanna held office for about forty years. It is possible that she was deified after her death.
References (thanks to Vanessa Bigot Juloux 🙂 )
1. Betty Shong Meador. 2009. The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna, Princess, Priestess, Poet. Texas:University of Texas Press.
2. McHale-Moore, Rhonda. 2000. “The Mystery of Enheduanna’s Disk.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies 27:69–74.
3. Westenholz, Joan Goodnick. 1989. “Enḫeduanna, en-Priestess, Hen of Nanna, Spouse of Nanna.” In in Dumu-E-Dub-Ba-A:Studies in Honor of Ake W. Sjoberg.