📜

Enheduanna

Akkadian Princess and High Priestess, the First Author Recorded by Name in Human History

One Legend Remembered for Life · Small Roles, Famous Names

High Priestess of the Moon Temple of UrSumerian Religious PoetryThe Earliest Known Named Author

Who they are

Enheduanna (c. 2285–c. 2250 BC) was a daughter of Sargon, founder of the Akkadian Empire, appointed by her father as high priestess of the moon god Nanna at the important Sumerian city-state of Ur, an office combining the dual functions of religious authority and political governance, and an important political arrangement of Sargon for consolidating rule over the conquered Sumerian city-states. Her hymns to the moon and a series of religious poems dedicated to the goddess Inanna survive to this day in the form of cuneiform clay tablets, the manuscripts explicitly signed with her name at the end, making her the first author in the written record of human history with a clearly attributed name (of either sex), some fifteen hundred years before the composition of the ancient Greek Homeric epics. Her poetry is sincere and strong in feeling, and one of her poems records her experience of once being driven from priestly office by a political rival and then restored, a precious primary document for the study of the religious and literary standing of women in ancient Mesopotamia.

Primary sourcesThe cuneiform tablet copies of Enheduanna’s hymns (most surviving being later copies)

Key stories

The "World’s First Named Author"

The clay-tablet manuscripts of the religious poetry Enheduanna composed are explicitly inscribed at the end with signature text such as "this was composed by Enheduanna," and this seemingly simple act of signing made her, in the long written record of humanity, the first author of clearly attributed name, of either sex — the writing that survives from before her is mostly anonymous administrative documents or religious ritual texts, and Enheduanna’s poetry is thereby of milestone significance in literary history and the study of the origins of authorial consciousness.

The Poem of Exile and Restoration

Enheduanna’s poem "The Exaltation of Inanna" records her painful experience of once being driven from the office of high priestess of Ur by a political rebellion and cast into exile, praying earnestly to the goddess Inanna to restore her priestly status and dignity; this poem, sincere and strong in feeling, was indeed borne out, and she at last regained the office of high priestess — this personalized religious poetic record provides precious primary material for the study of the political fragility of the standing of female religious authority in the ancient Near East.

Version differences

The poems surviving under Enheduanna’s name are mostly copies made by Sumerian scribes centuries later, and scholars hold some caution over whether their attribution is wholly accurate and how far they were later edited, but her standing as the earliest known named individual author is still widely acknowledged.

Relationships

Children

👑Sargon

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

The "earliest known named author in the world"Enheduanna is often cited by modern literary history and feminist research as the first author in human history recorded by an exact name (of either sex), and this "first person" standing places her at the starting point of being rediscovered and incorporated into the narrative of world literary history in modern times.

Appears in

The Dawn of the Bronze AgeSargon Founds the Akkadian Empire

← Back to Figures