Enheduanna has been celebrated as the earliest known named author in world history, as a number of works in Sumerian literature, such as the Exaltation of Inanna feature her as the first-person narrator, and other works, such as the Sumerian Temple Hymns may identify her as their author. However, there is considerable debate among modern Assyriologists based on linguistic and archaeological grounds as to whether or not she actually wrote or composed any of the rediscovered works that have been attributed to her. Additionally, the only manuscripts of the works attributed to her were written by scribes in the First Babylonian Empire six centuries after she lived, written in a more recent dialect of the Sumerian language than she would have spoken. These scribes may have attributed these works to her as part of the legendary narratives of the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad in later Babylonian traditions.
The cultural memory of Enheduanna and the works attributed to her were lost some time after the end of the First Babylonian Empire. Her existence was first rediscovered by modern archaeology in 1927, when Sir Leonard Wooley excavated the Giparu in the ancient city of Ur and found an alabaster disk with her name, association with Sargon of Akkad, and occupation inscribed on the reverse. References to her name were then later discovered in excavated works of Sumerian literature, which initiated investigation into her potential authorship of those works. Enheduanna's archaeological rediscovery has attracted a considerable amount of attention and scholarly debate in modern times related to her potential attribution as the first known named author. She has also received considerable attention in feminism, and the works attributed to her have also been studied as an early progenitor of classical rhetoric. English translations of her works have inspired a number of literary adaptations and representations.
anointed priest of Anu" and "the great ensi of Enlil" and his daughter, Enheduanna, was installed as priestess to Nanna at the temple in Ur. Troubles multiplied...
made. It is now in Iraq Museum, Baghdad. c. 2300 BC – 2184 BC: Disk of Enheduanna, from Ur, (modern Muqaiyir, Iraq) is made. It is now in University of...
1163/156853302760197520. Enheduanna; Meador, Betty De Shong (1 August 2009). Princess, priestess, poet: the Sumerian temple hymns of Enheduanna. University of Texas...
(c. 2400 BCE), Akkadian queen, wife of Sargon of Akkad and mother of Enheduanna. Baranamtarra (c. 2384 BCE), prominent and influential queen of Lugalanda...
factanddetails.com. Roberta Binkley (2004). "Reading the Ancient Figure of Enheduanna". Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks. SUNY Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780791460993...
information) that she was queen of Akkad and the mother of Sargon's children Enheduanna, Rimush, Manishtushu, Shu-Enlil, and Ilaba'is-takal. transliteration and...
that they became regarded as effectively the same. The Akkadian poet Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon, wrote numerous hymns to Inanna, identifying her...
Hymns influenced the later Temple Hymns, traditionally attributed to Enheduanna. The modern name of the Zame Hymns is derived from the Sumerian word za3-me...
civilizations.[citation needed] Among the first known female writers is Enheduanna; she is also the earliest known poet ever recorded. She was the High Priestess...
writings of the princess and priestess Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE). As the first named author in history, Enheduanna's writing exhibits numerous rhetorical...
Judaism", inspired by pre-Israelite Semitic religion priestesses such as Enheduanna, who was a devotee of the goddess Inanna. The word kohenet is the feminine...
and those of a number of his children are known to us. His daughter Enheduanna was a high priestess of the moon God in Ur who composed ritual hymns....
ISBNÂ 978-0-14-319458-3. Enheduanna; Meador, Betty De Shong (2000). Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna. University of...
2 and The Pink Panther 2. In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, she voiced Enheduanna in the episode "The Immortals". In 2014, Amanpour narrated "Women in War"...
at Delphi, acted as oracles. Sumerian en (Akkadian: entu), including Enheduanna (c. 23rd century BCE), were top-ranking priests who were distinguished...
Divine Powers, is a 184-line poem written in Sumerian by the Akkadian poet Enheduanna. It describes An's granddaughter Inanna's confrontation with Mount Ebiḫ...
the invention of writing. The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, who is credited as the author of a number of works of Sumerian literature...
BC (classical Sumerian). The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, a Sumerian priestess and public figure dating to c. the 24th century...
Biblical Archæology. Enheduanna; Betty De Shong Meador (1 August 2009). Princess, priestess, poet: the Sumerian temple hymns of Enheduanna. University of Texas...
rest of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Selected poets include Enheduanna, Mirabai, Lucretius, Dante, Nazim Hikmet, and Gabriela Mistral. Akbar...
Open University. Binkley, Roberta (2004). "Reading the Ancient Figure of Enheduanna". In Lipson, Carol; Binkley, Roberta A. (eds.). Rhetoric before and beyond...
4324/9781351005982 Babcock, Sidney and Erhan Tamur, eds., She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC,New York: Morgan Library and...
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