Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna

by Betty De Shong Meador

Book Overview

Living in 2300 BCE, Sumerian high priestess Enheduanna became the first author of historical record by signing her name to a collection of hymns written for forty-two temples throughout the southern half of ancient Mesopotamia, the civilization now known as Sumer.

Each of her hymns confirmed to the worshipers in each city the patron deity's unique character and significance. The collected hymns became part of the literary canon of the remarkable...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292723539
• ISBN13: 9780292723535
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Simply Beautifal.

As I am not a professional in the area of Archeology, I will leave that aspect to the other reviewers. However comparing Ms Meador's translation to some I have found online. Such as Lady of the Largest Heart Vs Lady of the Stoutest Heart. Reminds us all to clearly, it takes a real poet to translate a poet. Lady of the Largest Heart, is a poingant and tortured piece. Vs Lady of the Stoutest Heart which reads like Soviet Era Hero Poetry. Betty is a very talented Poet, and has gifted us with a work of great beauty. As well as a very challenging vision of the divine feminine. If she has not captured exactly what Enheduanna meant to say, I wonder if the High Priestess would not have said, Oh, I wish I had said that. :) As a Pagan myself I find this a very moving work. Yet I must warn my fellow Pagans Enheduanna's Innana is the Goddess of the New Moon. In her deepest Shadow, and Darkest Fury. Dont look for your fluff and bunnies here.

even large enough for highbrough

Not often does one have the profound experience of being drawn through the pages of a contemporary writer, but I must say that the realization of oneself is expressed masterfully through the phrases of this wonderfully made book.

GREAT POEMS!!!

As someone intensely interested in Inanna, as well as the ancient Sumerian gods and religeon, this book was exactly what I needed to better understand some of the most important concepts.Three complete poems of Enheduanna are represented here, and just the first one, "Inanna and Mount Ebih," is well worth the price of this book alone. There are many other small poems, little titbits of the ancient Sumerian hymns, which are equally enlightening. The translations, as well as the original texts are beautifully done, reading easily as poetry. If you like goddesses and you like poetry, this is a good thing to check out!I already own "Inanna: Queen of Heaven and of Earth," by Wolkstein, so I am well familiar to Inanna as a goddess of love and warmth. The texts contained in this book are the exact opposite; many show the violent side of Inanna. But this is exactly what is important, because Inanna is a goddess of duality, that symbolizes at many time's man's ancient connection with the spirit and his natural instincts. In ancient Mesopotamia, gods were often feared for their great powers, and harshness upon those that wronged them. Its great to have a new point of view, especially one that is as powerful as this. For the serious student, I'd reccomend getting both books, that way you can have a really clear picture of the glory of Inanna. The author spends a lot of time giving information about the ancient Sumerian customs, which I find to be very useful. For example, the Sumerian marriage rite, which I had never known much about.Now, I do have one complaint about this book. The author tends to include WAY too many references to the Bible, as well as a really strong feminist view point. While this is in fact interesting at times, its taken to the extreme in several places, such as at the end of "Inanna and Mount Ebih." I would say that for those of you that dig gender studies, you'll find it enlightening, but I would have preferred to see more information on the ancient Sumerian way of life. Oh well. Highly reccommended.

Good translating, forget most of the commentary

This up-to-date rendition of Sumerian religious poetry and hymns can be reviewed in two areas. The first: that of the theories around the poems/hymns; the second: the actual translations. Five stars the latter, two stars the former.The first part is given over to discussion of the Sumerian culture and the mythology of Inanna. The first chapter dupes as an intro and is autobiographical, which is nice, as it's good to see why an author has chosen to write any book. Chapter Two could be summed up by the statement that Inanna is "all encompassing", but the author chooses to spend a dozen pages saying it. To be honest you can safely ignore Chapter Two. Chapter Three is far better, giving a succinct history of pre-Sumerian cultures during the Ubaid period. Chapter Four is also very good as Meador gives a history of the archaeology of the Sumerian period. It continues through Chaprter 5 with an interpretation of Enheduanna's life. Several interpretative anomalies and assumptive theories leap out in chapters 5 to 7. For example, the single disk that was found stating: "Enheduanna..., daughter of Sargon" is interpreted as literal, even though, as the author acknowledges, this presents a dichotomy (as other Sumerian scholars also acknowledge) of incestuous rituals described in Chap6, pg 61. Given all these scholars and the author agree it presents a problem it might be prudent to theorize that the term `daughter' is ritualistic and not literal. But, by taking the literal interpretation, it has allowed the author to present a full princessly/priestessly life of Eduhanna with no primary source to back it up.Chapter 7 begins to discuss the 42 hymns and 3 poems. Hymn 8 speaks of the `seven seas' which throws up all kinds of questions, given the relatively modern usage of the term. What seven seas were the Sumerians referring to? The author starts to provide assumptive criticism of the hymns and the statement that: "In these works she created a role for Inanna never before explicitly stated" is not teneble. That's akin to saying that Homer was solely responsible for creating the roles of Achilles, Hector and Agamemmnon in the Iliad just because his is the earliest record. Something so patently untrue any Hellenistic scholar would deride the statement. It is further erroneously backed up by the statement: "Enheduanna draws a complex picture of Inanna that had probably never been articulated before." `Probably'? Alarm bells began to go off on reading that, if the author isn't convinced of her own thesis. Another example is the hymn section on pg77 where the word `captive' is transliterated to mean she was exiled and there is subsequent psychoanalysis of her state of mind in this `exile'. Perhaps the word `captive' is symbolic. It is, after all, a liturgical hymn.What is also frustrating, and Meador's amateur historian status perhaps explains it, is that (in this section) hardly any of it seems to be her own original thought. It's a constant procession of seconda

The definitive book about Enheduanna and Inanna

This is the book I have been waiting for since I first learned about Enheduanna, the first known writer of the ancient world and high priestess of the Sumerian moon god and was transfixed by her words: "But I am Enheduanna, pure and shining high priestess of the moon God!" I couldn't believe that a real priestess, wrote about herself in the first person, 4,000 years ago, as if she was talking directly to me. Ever since, I have had to trudge through dense, scholarly books and articles to learn any details I could about Enheduanna and now after 5 years this book comes along putting all the pieces, and I mean ALL the pieces together- and it far exceeds what I was hoping for. Meador has culled all the best information about Enheduanna and Inanna--from the overwhelming and hard-to-sift-through scholarly resources on Mesopotamia. She has hand-picked important quotes from women's studies, Jungian psychology, the ancient near east, and comparative anthropology and synthesized it all here, accessibly and VERY thought- provokingly! Meador has translated from the original Sumerian cuneiform three of Enheduanna's poems and presented them in a modern, delicious, poetic style for maximum accessiblity to today's audience. Through Meador's painstaking efforts and through her insightful and outstanding analysis Enheduanna emerges as a literary genius and surprisingly, as a theological radical! The latter was completely unexpected so I won't give away the details. This book is an incredible journey into a numinous, symbolic, mystical language, uncovering a new layer of the evolution of human consciousness, particularly from a female perspective. There is so much in this book which is so beautifully written- the poems alone are worth it. I predict it will become a best selling classic as were Enheduanna's poems centuries after her death. Enjoy and revel in this very real, powerful priestess' writings dating back 4,000 years! Praise be to Enheduanna and Betty de Shong Meador!