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4,300 years ago [br]in ancient Sumer,

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the most powerful person in the city of Ur[br]was banished to wander the vast desert.

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Her name was Enheduanna.

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She was the high priestess of the moon god[br]and history’s first known author.

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By the time of her exile, she had written [br]42 hymns and three epic poems—

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and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her.

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Enheduanna lived 1,700 years [br]before Sappho,

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1,500 years before Homer,

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and about 500 years before [br]the biblical patriarch Abraham.

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She was born in Mesopotamia, the land [br]between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,

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and the birthplace of the first cities [br]and high cultures.

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Her father was King Sargon the Great, [br]history’s first empire builder,

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who conquered the independent city-states [br]of Mesopotamia under a unified banner.

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Sargon was a northern Semite [br]who spoke Akkadian,

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and the older Sumerian cities in the south[br]viewed him as a foreign invader.

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They frequently revolted to regain [br]their independence,

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fracturing his new dynasty.

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To bridge the gap between cultures,

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Sargon appointed his only daughter, [br]Enheduanna, as high priestess

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in the empire’s most important temple.

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Female royalty traditionally [br]served religious roles,

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and she was educated to read [br]and write in both Sumerian and Akkadian,

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and make mathematical calculations.

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The world's first writing started in Sumer[br]as a system of accounting,

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allowing merchants to communicate [br]over long distances with traders abroad.

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Their pictogram system of record keeping [br]developed into a script

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about 300 years [br]before Enheduanna’s birth.

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This early writing style, [br]called cuneiform,

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was written with a reed stylus pressed [br]into soft clay to make wedge-shaped marks.

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But until Enheduanna,

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this writing mostly took the form [br]of record keeping and transcription,

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rather than original works attributable [br]to individual writers.

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Enheduanna’s Ur was a city [br]of 34,000 people with narrow streets,

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multi-storied brick homes, granaries, [br]and irrigation.

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As high priestess, Enheduanna [br]managed grain storage for the city,

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oversaw hundreds of temple workers, [br]interpreted sacred dreams,

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and presided over the monthly [br]new moon festival

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and rituals celebrating the equinoxes.

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Enheduanna set about unifying [br]the older Sumerian culture

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with the newer Akkadian civilization.

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To accomplish this, [br]she wrote 42 religious hymns

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that combined both mythologies.

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Each Mesopotamian city [br]was ruled by a patron deity,

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so her hymns were dedicated [br]to the ruling god of each major city.

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She praised the city’s temple, [br]glorified the god’s attributes,

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and explained the god’s relationship [br]to other deities within the pantheon.

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In her writing, [br]she humanized the once aloof gods—

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now they suffered, fought, loved, [br]and responded to human pleading.

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Enheduanna’s most valuable [br]literary contribution

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was the poetry she wrote to Inanna, [br]goddess of war and desire,

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the divinely chaotic energy [br]that gives spark to the universe.

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Inanna delighted in all forms [br]of sexual expression

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and was considered so powerful that [br]she transcended gender boundaries,

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as did her earthly attendants, who could [br]be prostitutes, eunuchs or cross-dressers.

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Enheduanna placed Inanna at the top of [br]the pantheon as the most powerful deity.

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Her odes to Inanna mark the first time [br]an author writes using the pronoun “I,”

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and the first time writing is used [br]to explore deep, private emotions.

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After the death of Enheduanna’s father, [br]King Sargon,

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a general took advantage [br]of the power vacuum and staged a coup.

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As a powerful member of the ruling family,[br]Enheduanna was a target,

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and the general exiled her from Ur.

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Her nephew, [br]the legendary Sumerian king Naram-Sin,

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ultimately crushed the uprising [br]and restored his aunt as high priestess.

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In total, Enheduanna served [br]as high priestess for 40 years.

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After her death, [br]she became a minor deity,

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and her poetry was copied, studied, [br]and performed throughout the empire

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for over 500 years.

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Her poems influenced [br]the Hebrew Old Testament,

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the epics of Homer, and Christian hymns.

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Today, Enheduanna’s legacy still exists,

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on clay tablets that have [br]stood the test of time.