Dan Snow's History Hit - Enheduanna: The World's First Author

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

It's hard to imagine a time when we didn't write things down- on stone, papyrus or parchment. Who was the first to actually put 'pen to paper' and write. Well, her name was Enheduanna. She was an Akkadian poet, writer and high priestess, remembered as the first named author in recorded history. She lived in the 3rd millennium BCE in the city-state of Ur, and was a figure of immense significance in the Mesopotamian world. As the high priestess of the moon god Nanna, she would help to cement ties between the newly merged Sumerian and Akkadian civilisations. She would also pen the first authored literary works, and her poems on womanhood and faith hold great meaning through to this day. Dan speaks to Sidney Babcock, the Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator at the Morgan Library and Museum, to find out how we know so much about her, and what her significance is today.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.Download the History Hit app from the Apple Store.

Welcome, everybody. Welcome to Dan Snow's History. I know I say we're going back to the beginning quite a lot, but this time we are actually going back to the beginning. We're going back to the beginning of literature. There is obviously some controversy, but it's widely accepted that the first named author that we have in the historical record is a woman. In Hedwana, high priestess of the moon god in the Sumerian city-state of Ur, during the reign of her father Sargan of Akkad. Sargan was an empire builder, and he installed his daughter in this essential religious position. And when there, she wrote some beautiful poetry that you'll be hearing excerpts from in this podcast. We're going to be talking to Sidney Babcock. He is the Jeanette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head of Ancient Near Eastern Seals and Tablets at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. It's one of the most magical spaces in the city. And they've got an exhibition on at the moment about Inheruana and other authors. She

lived in an area we'd now describe as Iraq in the 23rd century BC. That is a couple of hundred years after the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt. This is right at the beginning of recorded history. It is a fascinating story and one that that you'll hear that, for all its distance from us, has some pretty universal messages. Enjoy. T-minus 10. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. God save the king.

No black-white unity till there is first and black unity. Never to go to war with one another again. And liftoff, and the shuttle has cleared the tower. Sydney, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Tell me about this period. Tell me about the world in which N. Hiduana was born. Well, N. Hiduana was born into what we call Mesopotamia, which is today Iraq. And she's actually born in what was considered northern Mesopotamia, which is about where Baghdad is now. She was born into the world of a group of people called the Akkadians. The Akkadians come slightly after the Sumerians,

before Enheduena and the Akkadians, in the south of Mesopotamia, is a group of people that rise up known today as the Sumerians. They're the ones that invent writing, and they're the ones that invent the idea of the first cities. And once you have this invention of writing, you have a tremendous economic expansion and a way to keep track of the flow of goods back and forth, and civilization really gets going. Well, this goes on for a number of hundreds of years, and these early temple cities, the Vesumerians, make alliances with each other and break alliances and then start trying to contest over some limited number of resources. So in the north, where the Akkadians arise, they speak the language that's related to the

Semitic languages. They sort of live side by side with the Sumerians. And they see the situation with the Sumerians and these changing and breaking of agreements and contesting over different resources, and they realize this is not working. So a strong man from the Akkadians by the name of Sargon, around 2300-2350 BC, swoops down to the Sumerian city-states and unifies both the Sumerian city-states with the Akkadian cities in the north to create what is called the world's first empire. And he does that through force,

and then he creates an extraordinary, complex administrative system that unifies the whole country, both the Sumerian south and the Akkadian north. And at this moment, he takes his daughter and Hedwana and makes her the high priestess of the moon god, the great cultic figure of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. This is a position of great political and religious significance. Each of these city-states of southern Mesopotamia has the cult to one main god, and for Ur it was the masculine god, Nana, the moon god. So he makes his daughter the high priestess of the moon god at Ur. And we don't know her

birth name in Akkadian. We only know her by the name Enheduana, which is the Sumerian name that she takes when she becomes the high priestess of the moon god at Ur. And that name means high priestess ornament of the heavens. So why she takes a Sumerian name and why her father appointed her to that position is to show the Sumerians that there's no break from the Sumerian past to now the Akkadian present. We should say this is right back at the beginning of recorded history in terms of knowing about individuals. We do have people's names and we do have names of rulers, but we don't have any autobiographical details. In the exhibition at the Morgan that we're celebrating in Hedwana, there is actually a plaque from the British Museum that shows a

ruler figure approaching a female figure. And the female figure is identified by name. And her name is Kagirgal, and it dates to about 3000 BC. And this is actually the first time you had the name of a woman in any inscription anywhere, but it's celebrating or commemorating a transfer of property. It's a commemorative object and there are inscribed objects with people's names, but no one takes credit for writing. No one takes credit for authorship and Hedewena is the first one to do that. She's the first one to step forward and use the first person singular, use I in literature and to name herself and to give us autobiographical details. And that's a remarkable moment in literature.

It's such a remarkable moment. How is she doing that? Is it on scrolls? Is it with ink? Well, the Sumerians, the Cades Mesopotamia built an entire civilization with one raw material, and that is river mud. It's a great flood plain in southern Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. There isn't any quantities of stone of any quality. So there's none of the great stone architecture and sculpture and reliefs that attested the great splendor of

Greece, Egypt and Rome. This civilization is built with mud. They make bricks to build their buildings out of mud brick that was either then sun-dried or baked. And then what did they do for writing? They took clumps of mud from the river, sort of shaped them like small pillows, and they came to sort of a leather hardness. And then they took reeds from the rivers that had a natural triangular shape to them and made little groups of wedges in different configurations that represented syllables. And they pieced those sound syllables together and created words upon which they agreed upon meanings for. And that's what they wrote on. They wrote on clay tablets.

So she's writing on clay tablets. And it's those clay tablets that have survived. And it's because they're on this clay that they do survive. They're not as fragile as parchment or papyrus of later periods. Were they uncovered by archaeologists or have they been continually preserved? Uncovered by archaeologists. What an astonishing find. In later periods, kings put together libraries, you know, and tried to gather all the texts they could to try and preserve them.

And one of the most important things about Enheduanna's texts were that her most important works is called the Exaltation of Inanna. It was considered so important in her time and immediately after. This text by this woman became one of the ten canonical texts that was then taught in the scribal schools how to read and write grammar vocabulary for over 500 years. And the earliest copy we have of this text actually dates about 500 years after her life. But there are over 100 copies of this text that survived because it was considered so important. We have almost more copies of this than any other text from ancient Mesopotamia is this text

by this woman in Hedwana. And what does she say in it? What does she tell us? have almost more copies of this than any other text from ancient Mesopotamia is this text by this woman in Hedwana. And what does she say in it? What does she tell us? Well, may I share with you some lines about this text? You bet. That'd be great. I'd like to share them because it's so unknown to most people and it's powerful, powerful writing. So what is the text about? It's called The Exaltation of Inanna. And what it's about is that it describes something that happened to her in her lifetime. This is where a writer steps forward for the first time, uses the first person singular, and introduces the form of autobiography. So she writes that she is the high priestess of the moon god Et Ur, and remember

she's an Akkadian princess and priestess. A Sumerian usurper by the name of Lugal-an comes into her temple complex, arrests her, abuses her physically, rips off the crown of her office, gives her a dagger to commit suicide with, and sends her out into the wilderness to die. And at this point, she pleads with the moon god, whom she serves at Ur, to come and save her. The moon god does not listen. And then she pleads to Inanna, the great queen of heaven, the goddess of love and sex and warfare. And Inanna comes to her aid and rescues her and restores her. So that's why it's called the exaltation. But the Sumerians did not call it that.

They called it by the first line of the poem. And the first line in Sumerian is nin me shara. And nin means queen and it begins with queen of all cosmic powers. This is where Enheduanna is evoking or invoking the presence of the great goddess Inanna to bring her powers to prevail for her restoration. So it begins with queen of all cosmic powers, bright light shining from above, steadfast woman, a radiance lender, beloved of earth and sky, consort of heaven, whose gem of rank is greatest of them all. And then it goes on for 60 lines invoking or calling up the presence of Inanna. And then at line 62, this is the moment in literature where

for the first person, the writer steps forward. And I'd like to share that moment with you, and just listen to the language. Omniscient sage, lady of all lands, sustenance of multitudes, I have fairly recited your sacred song, which she has for the first 60 lines. True goddess, fit for the divine essences, it is exalting to acclaim you. Merciful one, brilliantly righteous woman, I have verily recited your glories to you. Verily I have entered the holy place at your behest. I, the high priestess, I and Hedgwana. And that is when the writer for the first time steps forward in all of literature. And if I may go on for a few more excerpts, I'd be very grateful.

Please do. So then the next brief excerpt I'd like to read is when she implores the moon god to come to her aid. And remember, she has been abused. She's in the wilderness and she's in despair. And she wonders why this has happened to her. So she writes, yes, I took up my place in the sanctuary dwelling. I was high priestess, I, and my place in the sanctuary dwelling. I was high priestess. I and Hedwana.

Though I bore the offering basket, though I chanted the hymns, a death offering was ready. Was I no longer living? I went towards light. It felt scorching to me. I went towards shade. It shrouded me in swirling dust. A slobbered hand was laid across my honeyed mouth. What was fairest in my nature was turned to dirt. O moon god, is this new galad my destiny?

Tell heaven to set me free of it. Just say it to heaven. Heaven will set me free. heaven. Heaven will set me free. This is the cry of womanhood in despair, abused women that has echoed through the millennium to our present day. And when you think of what's going on in, let's say, Afghanistan or Iran, this is powerful, powerful writing. You're listening to Dan Snow's History Hit. We're talking about Enheduanna, the first author More coming up I'm Tristan Hughes, host of the Ancients from History Hit where twice a week, every week, we delve into our ancient past I'm joined by leading experts, academics and authors

who share incredible stories from our distant history and shine a light on some of antiquity's great questions. Was the Oracle of Delphi really able to see into the future? The Oracle certainly operated, certainly gave many thousands these prophecies, and they were taken seriously in most cases. What can be discovered from lost civilizations? There was a lot of volcanic activity, and then one of these sites called

Cuicoco actually got covered with volcanic flows and the early archaeologists they used dynamite to get at this archaeology. And was King Arthur actually real? Ambrosius is far less well known. It looks as if he has got a significant impact on the creation of the Arthur story itself. You can expect all of this and more from the Ancients on History hit wherever you get your podcasts. we get into the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the greatest millennium in human history. We're talking Vikings, Normans,

Kings and Popes, who were rarely the best of friends, murder, rebellions, and crusades. Find out who we really were by subscribing to Gone Medieval from History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts. Let's hear some more. And now she's given up on the moon god

and she starts over again and makes her direct appeal to Inanna. And she writes, I am in Heduanna. Let me speak to you my prayer, my tears flowing like some sweet intoxicant. Oh, holy Inanna, may I let you have your way? I would have you judge the case. That man has defiled the rights decreed by holy heaven. He has turned the temple into a house of ill repute, forcing his way in as if he were an equal. He dared approach me in his

lust. When Lugolan stood paramount, he expelled me from the temple. He made me fly out the window like a swallow. I had had my taste of life. He made me walk a land of thorns. He took away the noble diadem of my holy office. He gave me a dagger. This is just right for you, he said. And so she's in despair. And then she pleads more with Inanna. And then she changes from the first person to the third person to describe the resolution. And I'll just share with you the ending in the great cathartic moment. And she writes, the almighty queen who presides over the priestly congregation, she accepted her prayer. Inanna's sublime will was for her restoration. It was a sweet moment for her.

She was arrayed in her finest. She was beautiful beyond compare. What she commanded for her consecrated woman prevailed. To you who can destroy countries whose cosmic powers are bestowed by heaven, to my queen arrayed in beauty, toanna she prays so it begins with cosmic powers ends with cosmic powers and all of this extraordinary detail in between about really what has echoed through the centuries and the thousands of years of all women and I find deeply deeply moving and profound and really powerful and I think it evokes the writings of Shakespeare. It's like King Lear and the Heath. I think it's that powerful. I agree. It's hugely powerful. It makes me wonder what the purpose of it was. Was it just

art or is there a sacral function here? What is she trying to achieve through these writings? Well, this is not the only thing she wrote. But in this case, she's describing an actual event that happened. And she is expressing her gratitude to Inanna for coming to her aid. It's almost as if the hymn is an offering, finally, at the end of it all. And she's thanking the goddess for rescuing her and restoring her. So it's almost as if it's at the same time people were creating Vodas statues or images of themselves

that evoke their personalities, almost the beginning of portraiture and setting them inside the temples to stand for them in eternity as worshipers inside the temple. And this hymn, I believe, takes the function like that. It's her offering to the goddess to express her profound gratitude for coming to her aid and restoring her.

And at the same time, she's writing in Sumerian, so the goddess is Inanna of the Sumerians and is trying also to appeal to the Sumerians as well, even though she's an Akkadian and she's in charge of this great cult in the Sumerian realm. So it's, again, trying to reach out and to appeal to her Sumerians as well. You see her role as a priestess as supportive of her father's political military role. I mean, they're working closely together. Yes. And that is expressed in one of her other writings. And that is called the Temple Hymns. And that is actually the text that she signs. And at the end of it, she says, oh, king, I have created here something that no one has ever done before.

She's taking credit for authorship. And what the temple hymns do, they describe about 46 some hymns of the different cults of some 36 different cities throughout the entire empire, including the Sumerian South and the Akkadian North. And she describes all the different cults throughout the empire. And she starts at the south, this very most southern sanctuary, and describes them in geographical order all the way to the north, to the capital Akkadian city. But what she is doing, which is really important, is she's creating one religious text that both the Sumerians and the Akkadians can agree upon. Her purpose is to help unify everything and make it work as one entity. And that's quite an accomplishment. That's a unifying effort. And she's trying to do it

through the religion as her father tries to do it through the administrative process. Do we know how that process went? Was she successful? Do we know any more about her from this point onwards? We don't know exactly when she was born or when she died. We do know that for a time, the Akkadians were extremely successful and extremely powerful. However, things do not end well. Therein lies a tale. She survives. She's appointed by her father, Sargon, and then Sargon dies, and then his two sons follow each other as kings. And then her nephew by the name of Naram-Sin takes over and she lives into the reign of Naram-Sin. And at some point she dies during that reign. And Naram-Sin is noteworthy because in one year he suppresses nine different rebellions and he claims that he's able to do that through the love of the goddess Ishtar. And then Hedwana's poem to Inanna, as I said, she's writing in Sumerian, so she's

writing about Inanna, the Sumerian goddess. But during the poem, one of the things she also does is she gives the attributes of the Akkadian version of Inanna, which is Ishtar, gives the attributes of Ishtar to Inanna and creates one goddess out of two. So that by the time the Akkadians really take over, Ishtar becomes the supreme female deity. And it's this idea of the supreme female deity Ishtar that Naram-Sin then uses to justify his conquest and suppression of these nine rebellions. unify and make a cohesive political entity with her nephew, abuses in a way and uses the idea of religion to justify conquest and division and the suppression of peoples. And he also does something quite extraordinary because he claims that is through the love of Ishtar, he's able to do all of this. He declares himself to be beloved of Ishtar and to be a living God in his own lifetime. And this is the first time that happens in world history. Well, that's not the last time though, eh? We've seen a lot of that.

And it's not the last time we've had delusional narcissism plague the political sphere. What's really unfortunate, I think, is that this is the first example in world history where there's a clear case for the abuse of religion to justify conquest. It does not go over well with the Sumerians, and the whole thing collapses not long after Naram Sin. It does not end well for the Akkadians, and this is one of the lessons of history that has yet to be learned to our own present time. So again, what Enheduena used to unify and help her nephew Naram-Sin abuses. Well, that's a fantastic place to end it. Thank you so much for coming on and telling us all about Nheduena and Mesopotamia.

It's extraordinary. Tell us how people can learn more about this. There's an exhibition at the moment at the Morgan Library and Museum through February 19th, which is called She Who Wrote, Nheduena and Women of Mesopotamia, just about all of these people and focusing on women. Sidney, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and talking all about it. Thank you for having me, and I really appreciate it. you