The Akkadian princess Enheduanna, the first poet in history, and the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature
“Enhido-Anna” (between 2300 and 2225 BC), whose name means “High Priestess, Adornment of Heaven,” was considered the first poet in history. She was the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad. She is considered one of the greatest poets of the ancient world. She wrote her texts in the Sumerian language, and published her works. Women's knowledge of reading in ancient Mesopotamia, in addition to Enheduanna, was known for the women of kings who knew poetry and possibly composed it.
Dr. Khazal Al-Majidi, a researcher in the history of religions and ancient civilizations, says that the reason that prompted historians and researchers to consider “Enhedu-Anna” the first poet in history is that she used to append her name to the tablets of her poems, while the poetry tablets before her were devoid of the names of their authors, and some of them bore The names of the scribes of these poems, not the names of their authors, adding: “The available poems were collected and amounted to about 42 poems .”
The Iraqi researcher explained that the writer William Hallow described this poet as “the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature.”
Her name is Enheduanna or En-Hedu-Ana, which means the high priest or priestess, and Hedo means Zeina or Ahla, and it means the decoration of the high priest of the god Anne, which is a name that refers to the god Nanna (Sin), the god of the moon.
Her mother was a high-ranking priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sin) and the highest priestess of the Sumerian moon god Nanna in the city of Ur (the oldest known person holding this title), a position of important political privilege that was usually held by the daughters of kings. Enheduanna was the aunt of the Akkadian king. Naram Sin is one of the oldest women known by name .
Literary and historical scholars consider her the oldest woman writer and poet of love and sex. Enheduanna reached the highest priestly rank in the third millennium BC. She was appointed by her father, King Sargon of Akkad, and she had a prominent role during the rule of her father and mother, Queen Tashlultum. She left a group of literary works that include Poems dedicated to the goddess Inanna and a collection of hymns known as “Sumerian temple hymns.” These are considered the first attempts at systematic divinity, and some scholars, such as William Hallow and Van Dyck, attribute certain works to her, although they are not explicitly mentioned by name.
Sargon appointed Enheduanna to the position of high priestess in a move that caused a great uproar in order to secure his power in southern Sumeria, where the city of Ur was located.
Then she continued in her position also during the reign of her brother Rimush, and during this particular era some Sumerian regions witnessed rebellions against the rule of her brother Rimush. She was involved in some political turmoil and was expelled from her position, but she returned to it during the rule of her nephew Naram-Sin. Her author describes “the expulsion of Inanna's deportation from Ur and then her reinstatement (Franke 1995: 835), which is linked to the "Curse of Akkad", where Enlil cursed Naram-Sin and expelled him, and she played a role in convincing southern Sumer to restore Akkadian rule over them. She died shortly after that, but Her memory remains as an important figure.
Enheduanna composed 42 hymns addressed to the temples in Sumer and Akkad, including the temples of Eridu, Sippar, and Eshnunna. The texts were recreated from 37 archaeological tablets whose poetry was mentioned in the cities of Ur and Nippur. Most of these archaeological tablets date back to the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur and the ancient Babylonian periods (Soberg and Bergman 1969). : 6-7 .
Commonly known as the Sumerian Temple Hymns, this is the first collection of its kind in which Enheduanna says: “O my king, something has been created that no one has created before.” The transcription of the hymn indicates the fact that it was used and highly valued long after Enheduanna's death .
Her other famous works include The Glorification of Inanna or Nin-mi-sar-ra, a personal dedication to the goddess Inanna with details of Enheduanna's deportation from Ur .
The Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer and the poet Diane Wolkstein translated her works and collected them into a unified narrative published under the title “Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer.” It was published by Harper Perennial in 1983 .
From the works of Enheduanna
Nin-mi-sar-ra, “The Praise of Inanna,” consisting of 153 lines, edited and translated by Halo and Van Dijk in 1968, and then translated by Annette Zoll in 1997 into German. The first 65 lines address the goddess with a list of her attributes, comparing her to the chief god of Sumer. Enheduanna then explains her unhappiness while in exile outside the temple, then speaks about the cities of Ur and Uruk, then asks for Inanna's intercession, then lines 122 to 135 list Inanna's divine attributes .
Nin Sa Gur Ra (so named after its opening), consisting of 274 lines (incomplete), edited by Soberg in 1976 using 29 discovered fragments
- In nin mi hu a, “Inanna wa Ibih,” translated by Limet in 1969 .
Temple Hymns, edited by Soberg and Bergman in 1969, consisting of 42 hymns of varying lengths, addressed to temples .
Hymn to Nana, edited by Westenholz .
Praise for our ego:
O Queen of all things, O radiant light
O life-giving woman, you who bring the flood from the mountain,
O towering one, O Inanna of heaven and earth,
O you who rain blazing fire upon the wasteland
O you who were sent to me by God (Ann),
O queen who rides beasts
Which uttered the sacred words
In implementation of the orders of Holy Anne,
!Who can investigate your sacred rituals
O destroyer of foreign lands
You gave wings to the storm,
Beloved of Enlil - and made her blow upon the universe,
You carried Anne's orders .
My queen,
Strange lands bow before your cry,
In terror and fear of the south wind, people came
Here's their annoying noise
They brought their cries to you
They stood in front of you, wailing and sobbing
And before you they brought the great wailing of the city streets .
My queen,
You are all predation in your power
And you kept attacking like an attacking wind,
And you kept wailing louder than the howling wind,
And you kept thundering louder than thunder,
And you kept moaning louder than the malicious winds,
Your feet can't get tired
And you made the wailing play on the “lyre of lamentation .”
My queen,
All the great gods
They fled before you like fluttering bats,
They could not stand before your majestic face,
They could not approach your majestic forehead,
!Who can calm your angry heart
!Your destructive heart cannot be calmed
O Queen, O happy soul, O joy of the heart,
O whose wrath cannot be appeased, O daughter of iniquity,
O Queen, O absolute ruler of the land,
!Who has provided enough loyalty to you
The mountain that refused to pay allegiance to you
His herbs withered and became barren.
You set fire to its great gates,
Its rivers flowed in blood because of you,
And its people dried up their water.
His army was voluntarily taken into captivity before you,
His forces voluntarily disperse before you,
And his strong men willingly bowed down before you,
The places of entertainment in his cities were filled with chaos
His adult men were taken as prisoners before you .
O Queen of great queens,
O you who have become greater than your mother who gave birth to you
The moment you left the holy womb,
Knowing, wise, and queen over all lands,
You who multiplied all living creatures and human beings -
I have uttered your sacred song .
O life-giving Goddess, begotten of divinity,
O He who glorifies her rejoicing,
Merciful, life-giving woman, radiant of the heart,
I have uttered my song before you according to what suits your divinity
I entered before you into my holy temple,
I am the priestess, Enheduanna,
Carrying the incense basket, I sing your happy hymn,
But now I no longer live in the sacred temple that your hands built .
The day came, and the sun scorched me
The shadow of the night came, and the south wind drowned me
My melodious voice, sweet as honey, became a cacophony
Everything that gave me pleasure turned to dust .
Oh, iniquity, O King of Heaven, my bitter fate,
To God An, report my complaint, and An will save me
I, Enheduanna, implore you, Inanna,
And my tears are like a sweet drink .
Me, who am I among wild creatures !
Ah, Queen who invented wailing
The boat of mourning will anchor in hostile land
And there I will die, singing the sacred song .
Sources :
(1) The free encyclopedia Wikipedia
(2) Saleh Hamid, in pictures... Great women from the history of Mesopotamia, Al Arabiya.net website, last page, October 18, 2016 AD.