(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)
(gods in blue …mixed-breed demigods in teal…)
‘INANNA, STOUT-HEARTED, AGGRESSIVE LADY,
MOST NOBLE OF THE ANUNNA–GODS, –
SHE IS A BIG NECK-STOCK
(Inanna & Enlil, many symbols of gods above)
CLAMPING DOWN ON THE GODS OF THE LAND, –
ONCE SHE HAS SPOKEN,
CITIES BECOME RUIN-HEAPS,
A HOUSE OF DEVILS’ …
MS in Sumerian on clay, Babylonia, 20th-17th c. BC, 1 tablet, 21x17x4 cm, 3 columns, 16+16+16+4 lines in cuneiform script by a teacher of a scribal school in column 1, with 2 students repeating the hymn in columns 2 and 3.
Context: The same text as on MS 2367/3. Hymns to Inanna are MSS 2367/1, 2367/3, 2647, 2698/1-2, 2784, 3286, 3301, 3376 and 3384. Hymns by Enhedu’Anna are MSS 2367/1-4,, 2647, 3376 and 3384.
(Enheduana is second from left)
Commentary: Enhedu’anna was daughter of King Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BC), founder of the first documented empire in Asia. Enhedu’anna emerges as a genuine creative talent, a poetess as well as a princess, a priestess and a prophetess. She is, in fact, the first named and non-legendary author in history. As such she has found her way into contemporary anthologies, especially of women’s literature.