The Founder of Western Literature Was A Woman Who Lived 4300 Years Ago
The Priestess Enheduanna is the earliest known writer whose name was recorded
Enheduanna. Say that name three times fast. Imprint it in your mind, because my guess is you haven’t heard it before. (I hadn’t either, before a chance encounter while surfing the internet yesterday). It’s a name of vital importance to world literature.
In fact, it’s the first name in world literature.
Texts existed before her but we have no idea who wrote them because the authors didn’t include their names. But Enheduanna, High Priestess of An, signed her name.
The daughter of Sargon the Great, King of the Akkadian Empire, Enheduanna lived in ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey) from 2285–2250 BCE. Sargon elevated his daughter to the position of High Priestess of Ur, which was the most important city in the region of Sumer and is mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of Abraham.
Her duties would have included overseeing the operation of Ur’s temple complex, as well as the daunting task of merging the Sumerian and Akkadian gods so that her father could have stronger control over his vast empire.
