Wonder Woman of the Week: Enheduanna

Virginia Wolfe once said that “anonymous” was a name often attributed to authors men refused to admit were women. It may come as some surprise then that the first known author in human history was a poetess who goes back nearly five thousand years. This week’s spotlight was a high priestess who wrote prayers to the gods, letters to kings, and entire novels on the everyday lives of Ancient Mesopotamians. The Wonder Woman of the Week is Enheduanna.

The name Enheduanna is likely a title rather than the name the woman was born with, but her title tells a story of Enheduanna’s life nonetheless. Enheduanna was appointed as high priest of the Temple of Nanna in the Sumerian city of Ur. Here, Enheduanna prayed to the goddess Inanna on behalf of the Sumerians and gained recognition early for her powerful prayers. At one point, a renegade Sumerian raised a mob and captured the city. Enheduanna was banished from her post as priestess and sent to live in the desert. It was at this point when Enheduanna published her most famous novel. In “The Exaltation of Inanna,” Enheduanna pleaded with Inanna to send the gods to destroy the renegade and reinstate her post as high priest. The novel paid off because soon after, the renegade was defeated and Enheduanna returned to Ur and to her job as high priest of the Temple of Nanna. [1]

Enheduanna’s poems and novels were copied and read by readers across the ancient world- giving historians a vast pool of resources from which to learn about both Enheduanna and the time in which she lived. Enheduanna’s “The Exaltation of Inanna” itself is 700 years older than the Egyptan Book of the Dead and 1500 years older than the Greek Iliad and Hebrew Bible. Enheduanna’s writing included the laws of her father Sargon the Great, and her songs were sung for five hundred years after Enheduanna’s death. [2]

The ancient texts of Enheduanna not only inspired the Ancient Mesopotamians; her works continue to inspire famous storytellers today. In 2012, world famous author Neil Gaiman toured the relics of Eheduanna at the Penn Museum. The curator took Gaiman to see the Disk of Enheduanna. The disk depicts Enheduanna overseeing other priests at the Temple of Nanna. Other artifacts included a broken lunar disk and a vase dedicated to Inanna inscribed by Enheduanna herself. [3]

While Enheduanna is likely not the first author of human history- she is the first recorded author. Her work included prayers, songs, poems, and novels. Enheduanna’s work helped establish her as the head priest at one of Ur’s major temples and her writings helped save her father’s empire from falling into the hand of a renegade mob. Her work was published hundreds of years before the major works of Ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Judea; and it still inspired writers today.

Mark, Joshua J. “Enheduanna.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient Encyclopedia Limited; 24 March 2014. Web. 16 November 2016.

Kelley, Peter. “Ducuments that Changed the World: The Exaltation of Inanna, 2300 BCE.” UW Today. University of Washington; 5 May 2015. Web. 16 November 2016.

Hafford, Brad. “Ur Digitalization Project: Item of the Month, June 2012.” Penn Museum. University of Pennsylvania; June 2012. Web. 16 November 2016.