Enheduanna

File:EnheduannaDisk.jpg

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

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:AkkadianHead.jpg

Bust of Akkadian ruler, possibly Sargon of Akkad

Despite living 4300 before the present (ca. 2285-2250 B.C.E.), Enheduanna's historical existence is well established. Her mother was Sumerian, probably herself a priestess, and hailed from southern Mesopotamia. Her father, it is generally agreed, was Sargon of Akkad, who was also the son of a priestess, perhaps a sacred harlot.

Enheduanna was was the high priestess of the moon god (Sin mythology|Sin) or Nanna. She is depicted as in a procession in which she preceded by a nude male priest (or perhaps the king) with male attendants behind her. Inheduanna wears a flounced dress and a rolled brimmed turban, the aga, which she refers to in The Exaltation of Inanna as 'the true cap/the sign of (appropriate to) en-ship' (l.107).

On the back of En-hedu-Ana's alabaster disk is an inscription recording her as the "daughter of Sargon of Akkad," the founder of the Dynasty of Akkad and the first ruler to unite northern and southern Mesopotamia, 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, it 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 conclude 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.

---

Enheduanna is at once a mystical and heroic figure, one whose image may be destined to take hold of the popular imagination in an era of emerging feminism and the reclaiming of ancient feminine images. She is the world's oldest known author whose works were written in cuneiform approximately 4300 years ago. Two of her known works are hymns to the goddess Inanna, The Exaltation of Inanna and In-nin sa-gur-ra. A third identified work, The Temple Hymns, addresses the sacred temples and their occupants, the goddess or god to whom they were consecrated. In each of these works she steps forward to speak in the first person moving from the third.

Harvard art historian Irene J. Winter describes the disk as carved of translucent alabaster. It measures approximately 25.6 centemeters in diameter and 7.1 centimeters thick. During the University of Pennsylvania excavations in 1927, it was found in several fragments in the area of the giparu [inner sanctum] of the temple at Ur in 1927. It has been heavily reconstructed and now is on display as part of the collection of the Univeristy Museum, Philadelphia. (190-192)

Winters also explains that on the back, in a column of eleven cases, an inscription identifies Enheduanna as the 'wife (dam) of Nanna [the Sumerian moon god] and daughter of Sargon' (192). Winters notes that the nude priest pouring the libation and Enheduanna share the center of the disk. If the restoration is accurate, according to Winters, 'only Enheduanna's head actually touches the upper margin of the frieze—the violation of isocephaly serving to emphasize her dominant position' (192-3).

While the disk represents the four figures making a ritual offering to the moon god, it is interesting that among Enheduanna's works so far found, her major work, the hymn The Exaltation of Inanna—translated in 1968 by Willo and J. J. A Van Dijk—addresses the goddess Inanna. Apparently her official title was en (high-priestess) to the god Nanna, yet her passionate affiliation appears to have been to the goddess Inanna. Of her five recovered works, two are long hymns to Inanna.

The combined roles of priestess and princess may have set a precedent in Sumerian history that followed for the next five centuries. Scholar William W. Hallo explains that she was a personality 'who set standards in all three of her roles for many succeeding centuries...' (1). The names of high priestesses appear in historical lists just as do the kings testifying to interesting political and cultural implications of power, at least of royal women. For the next 500 years between sovereigns, the priestesses provided continuity of government.

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 early Sumerian hymns. She is often considered to be the earliest author known by name. The hymns she wrote to the goddess Inanna celebrate her individual relationship with the goddess, thereby setting down the earliest surviving verbal account of an individual's consciousness of her inner life.

• Nin-me-sara, also called "The Exhaltation of Inanna," consists of 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 in greatest to An, the supreme god of the pantheon. En-hedu-anna complaining that she was exiled from the temple and the cities of Ur and Uruk and asking for intercession of Nanna the goddess' father. Lines 122-135 recite divine attributes of Inanna.

• 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

Legacy

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

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.

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

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Enheduanna  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Enheduanna"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.