Enheduanna

Enheduanna was a Mesopotamian priestess, princess, and poet. She is currently--as of 2023--the world's oldest documented, named author. She lived around 2285 to 2250 BC, although artifacts bearing her work were only discovered at the Sumerian site of Ur in 1927. Ur was one of the earliest city-states, located in present-day Iraq. Writing was invented in these places, beginning the shift from oral to written cultures.  

Enheduanna was the daughter of Sargon the Great, an empire builder. As a member of the ruling class, she was educated and influenced by the flourishing of Ur during her lifetime. Primarily, she is known for composing 42 temple hymns, each one for a temple located in her region. The hymns celebrate the unique characteristics of the temple's goddess and describe everyday life. Women in Enheduanna's time could own property, and they participated in artistic and trade communities. Artifacts found alongside tablets containing Enheduanna's poems portray women doing activities alongside men. In short, women in her time enjoyed a level of gender equality we might not expect. 

As a rhetorician, Enheduanna strengthened her father's empire by writing hymns and poetry portraying the merging of the Sumerian goddess Inanna with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar. Uniting the goddesses through her literary works helped persuade the two communities they represented to unite under Sargon's leadership. The combined deity illustrated in Enheduanna's writing is a warring goddess. Ishtar/Inanna carries combat weapons, controls a lion on a leash, kills a god and tears down a mountain. She is triumphant, and in her strength suggests the invincibility of the empire Sargon sought to build. 

An ancient coin containing Enhedunna's likeness shows her occuping a position of power. She wears a layered gown, is larger than her accompanying priests who carry her ceremonial accouterments, and is preceded by a male offering libations in her honor. The lasting impression this priestess, poet, and rhetorician left behind cannot be overstated. For hundreds of years after her death, priests and scribes continued to record her work, to the point that we cannot be sure of exactly what she wrote versus what has been credited to her.