Princess Enheduanna, the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, lived in Ur more than four thousand years ago and wrote in Sumerian, using cuneiform, a series of wedges that formed an alphabet. (a thousand or so years before Homer) She became High Priestess of Inanna, the Goddess of Love.
Five of her works survive and have been translated into English. Her most well-known work, Nin-me-šara or The Exaltation of Innana, deals with palace intrigue. The other four are hymns: In-nin ša-gur-ra or Inanna…. (translation of second word not provided). n-nin me-huš-a or Inanna and Ebih. The Temple Hymns. And lastly, Hymn to Nanna. (only 20% of the tablets have been translated so we may see more of her work) Photo is of Innana, not Enheduanna.
Sample of a hymn translated by Betty De Shong Meador
Temple Hymn 7
The Kesh Temple Of Ninhursag,The Lofty
High-lying Kesh
in all heaven and earth you are the form-shaping place
spreading fear like a great poisonous snake
