Enheduanna

Enheduanna (c. 2285-2250 B.C.E.; En-hedu-Ana, EN.HÉ.DU.AN.NA 𒂗𒃶𒁺𒀭𒈾 "lord or lady ornament of An (the sky or heaven)") was an Akkadian princess as well as high priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sin) in Ur, who came to honor Inanna above all the other gods of the Sumerian pantheon and assisted in the merging of the Akkadian Ishtar with the Sumerian Inanna.

Biography

File:EnheduannaDisk.jpg

A disk excavated at Ur purporting to show En-hedu-Ana at the temple of Nanna

On the back of En-hedu-Ana's alabaster disk, shown to the right, is an inscription recording her as the "daughter of Sargon of Akkad," the founder of the Dynasty of Akkad who reigned for 56 years, c. 2270–2215 B.C.E. Scholars have debated whether to take this relationship literally or symbolically. If literally true, the relationship attests Sargon's successful policy of appointing members of his family to key posts. Moreover, there followed after En-hedu-ana a long tradition whereby the king appointed his daughter to the post of high priestess of Nanna, leading many scholars to presume that she was thus the first of such royal daughters to be appointed to this position.

Although she was the priestess of Sin/Nanna, En-hedu-ana's most famous work is her Nin-me-sara, devoted to the goddess Inanna/Ishtar. Near the end of her life, En-hedu-ana called on Inanna for help because she has been temporarily dislodged from her position by Lugal-Ane a rebelling Sumerian king showing this "imperial" appointment to be locally unacceptable. Her prayers to Inanna may have been answered with victories in battles between the Sumerians and the Akkadians. This allowed her nephew, Naram Sin, who was then king, to successfully unite Sumer and Akkad for several years. After this En-hedu-Ana was restored to her post as priestess of Nanna in Ur.

Nin-me-sara was long revered as a sacred scripture. As long as 500 years after her death, during the Babylonian era, it was used as a text copied by students learning to be scribes in the edubba, or scribal schools. More than 100 clay tablet copies of the hymn have been found, testifying to the popularity of the hymn. Few Mesopotamian literary texts have boasted as many copies.

On the alabaster disk, Eh-hedu-anna styles herself the "zirru of Nanna," a mysterious term which may translated as "wife of Nanna," and refer to her as an embodiment of the goddess Ningal, who was Nanna's consort.

Style

En-hedu-anna is the first known author to write in the first person. Scribes had previously written about the king and the the gods, but never about themselves prior to En-hedu-anna.

Historians have alo noted that En-hedu-anna's work displays a strong sense of a personal relationship with the divine:

My Lady, I will proclaim your greatness in all lands and your glory!

Your ‘way’ and great deeds I will always praise! (In-nin me-hus-a 1:254-5)

I am yours! It will always be so!

May your heart cool off for me

May your understanding... compassion…

I have experienced your great punishment (In-nin me-hus-a l:246-7 & 250)

Hymns

Enheduanna is known to us as the author of several Sumerian hymns. She is generally considered the earliest author known by name^{[citation needed]}. The hymns she wrote to Inanna celebrate her individual relationship with Inanna, thereby setting down the earliest surviving verbal account of an individual's consciousness of her inner life.

• Nin-me-sara, "The Exhaltation of Inanna," 153 lines, edited and translated first by Hallo and van Dijk (1968), later by Annette Zgoll (1997) in German. The first 65 lines address the goddess with a list of epithets, comparing her to An the supreme god of the pantheon. Then, Enheduanna speaks in the first person, complaining that she was exiled from the temple and the cities of Ur and Uruk, asking for intercession of Nanna. Lines 122-135 recite divine attributes of Inanna. In October 2008, CALYX Books of Corvallis, Oregon will publish a poetic translation of Nin-me-sara, entitled "Humming the Blues." It is by Minnesota author Cass Dalglish of Augsberg College. Dalglish's work utilizes a unique approach to cuneiform translation, taking the multiple meanings of each symbol into account in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the Enheduanna's themes and motifs.

• In-nin sa-gur-ra (named by incipit), 274 lines (incomplete), edited by Sjoberg (1976) using 29 fragments.

• In-nin me-hus-a, "Inanna and Ebih," first translated by Limet (1969)

• The Temple Hymns, edited by Sjoberg and Bergmann (1969): 42 hymns of varying length, addressed to temples.

• Hymn to Nanna, edited by Westenholz

Westenholz edited another fragmentary hymn dedicated to Enheduanna, apparently by an anonymous composer, indicating her apotheosis following her death.

See also

• Sumerian literature

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Dalglish, Cass. Humming the Blues: Inspired by Nin-Me-Sar-Ra, Enheduanna's Song to Inanna, CALYX Books, 2008. ISBN 9780934971928
• Hallo, William W. and J.J.A. Van Dijk, The Exaltation of Inanna, Yale University Press, 1968.
• Meador, Betty De Shong. Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna, University of Texas, 2001. ISBN 0292752423
• Roberts, Janet."Enheduanna, Daughter of King Sargon: Princess, Poet, Priestess (2300 B.C.E.)," Transoxiana 8, 2004. [1]
• Sjoberg, Ake and E. Bermann, The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns, Locust Valley, J.J. Augustin, 1969.
• Sjoberg, Ake. "In-nin sa-gur-ra: A Hymn to the Goddess Inanna by the en-Priestess Enheduanna," Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archaeologie 65, 1975, 161-253.
• Zgoll, Annette. Der Rechtsfall der En-hedu-Ana im Lied Nin-me-sarra, (En-hedu-Ana's legal case in the hymn Nin-me-sara) [Ugarit-Verlag, Muenster], 1997. For an English translation of Zgoll's translation of Nin-me-sara: [2]

External links

• Biography of Enheduanna
• The En-hedu-Ana Research Pages
• Inana and Ebih: translation (The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature)
• A hymn to Inana (Inana C): translation (The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature)
• The temple hymns: translation (The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature)
• Cass Dalglish's Humming the Blues, Inspired by Enheduanna's Nin-Me-Sar-Ra

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