The Exaltation of Inanna (Nin-me-šara)

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The Exaltation of Inanna (Sumerian: Nin-me-sharra, meaning "Lady of All the Divine Attributes") is the earliest literary text in human history attributed to a named author. It was written by Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon of Akkad (r. c. 2334–2279 BCE) and high priestess (en) of the moon god Nanna at Ur. Enheduanna held this office for approximately forty years, a period spanning her father's reign and that of her nephew Naram-Sin. She is the world's first identified poet. The text survives on multiple cuneiform tablets from Nippur, Ur, and other sites, with the most substantial exemplars dating to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112–2004 BCE), though they record a composition from the Sargonic period. The tablets were assembled and translated in the twentieth century, primarily through the work of W.W. Hallo and J.J.A. van Dijk (The Exaltation of Inanna, 1968) and the ETCSL corpus at Oxford. The poem has two distinct registers. The first is a formal theological hymn describing Inanna's divine attributes (her me, the Sumerian term for the powers and offices that constitute civilised existence). The second is a deeply personal lament: Enheduanna herself has been expelled from her temple and position by a usurper named Lugal-anne, who seized the E-anna sanctuary at Uruk. She addresses Inanna directly, describing her humiliation — stripped of her regalia, handed a dagger, and driven out "like a swallow from the window." This switch from formal theology to personal crisis and back again is remarkable. The final section announces the restoration of her position, apparently through divine intervention. The hymn establishes several theological positions of lasting influence: Inanna as supreme among the great gods (including the Anunna), as the one who alone holds and distributes the divine me, and as the goddess who determines the fate of all lands. These claims are made in the voice of the high priestess herself — a woman who was simultaneously temple administrator, poet, and the human embodiment of divine authority in her city. A disc-shaped limestone plaque found at Ur, now known as the "Disc of Enheduanna" and held at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, depicts a woman in priestly robes leading a cult procession. It bears an inscription identifying it as belonging to Enheduanna, and is one of the only visual representations of a named ancient author from anywhere in the ancient world.

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