this
info from the site:
http://music.acu.edu/www/iawm/pages/enhed.html
Abilene Christian University
(also see 'Female Poets & Composers' on Links
Page)
Enheduanna: Hymns to Inanna
Enheduanna, with priest (left) and two priestesses following behind.
Limestone disc excavated at Ur
The songs of Enheduanna (later 2300s or early 2200s B.C.) comprise
the oldest literature by an identified author written in cuneiform.
She was first appointed high-priestess during the reign of her father
the Sumerian king, Sargon, who united Sumer and Akkad (southern and
northern Mesopotamia) located in what is now Iraq.
Her portrait on a limestone disc was discovered during an excavation
of Ur.
Among her 45 extant songs she wrote three long hymns to the Goddess
Inanna.
Although Akkadian born, Enheduanna wrote in Sumerian as she was placed
in the Sumerian city of Ur by Sargon.
Inanna, known as the Venus star, was the Sumerian goddess of love
and war and is identified with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar.
As En-priestess, Enheduanna served the moon god Nanna, father of Inanna.
According to a letter from Dr.
Kilmer, "Enheduanna's religious poetry was certainly sung,
and probably accompanied by a stringed instrument.
Enheduanna seems to have composed the music and written the words."
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