Enheduanna (c. 2300 BC) was a Sumerian Akkadian high priestess of the moon god Nanna in Ur, who came to honor above all the other gods of the Sumerian pantheon Inanna. A single tablet records her as the "daughter of Sargon of Akkad" a relationship that has been taken both literally and ritually. If literally true, the relationship attests Sargon's successful policy of appointing members of his family to important posts. She was eventually dislodged from her position by the local priests, showing this "imperial" appointment to be locally unacceptable.
Enheduanna is known to us as the author of 42 hymns about Akkadian temples in different cities, a hymn to Inanna and the hymn "The Rise of Inanna".
She is generally considered the oldest author known by name. The hymns she wrote to Inanna constitute the earliest written portrayal of a goddess, and in celebrating her individual relation with Inanna, Enheduanna sets down the first existing account of an individual's consciousness of her inner life.
Further reading
- Betty De Shong Meador, 2001. translator and editor, Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart : Poems of the Sumerian High University of Texas. ISBN 0292752423 Three poems of Enheduanna
