My head hurts every time I think about human experience and expression that happened millennia ago. It makes me wonder about my own range of emotion and complex thought, and how everyone four thousand years ago was also capable of that. This makes me miss medieval history and digging through people's journals and letters.
I LOVE digging through people’s journals and letters. Absolutely my favorite kind of archive work. I like ancient literature a lot, but the real hidden gems are found when people are being their most emotional/less polished selves, I think. Enheduanna’s poetry in particular is so expressive and personal, and has a distinctly feminine quality to it. IWhen I read it it breaks down that time barrier and makes me feel a small amount of what she felt. At least that’s how I experience it.
Well said and yeah me too. Trips me out to think about, not just 4,000 years ago, but 50,000 years ago, or 100,000 years ago, or longer, there were humans doing human stuff and thinking human thoughts and feeling human emotions and they were every bit as smart and perceptive as me. It is weird to think about.
"high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur" .. that just says it all right there .. I mean some heavy power going on .. Thanks for introsucing me to her work and this poem. These Akkadian temples must have been pretty wild and enchanted places full of energy. When the gods strode the Earth, most definitely ... I love this stuff
This is really interesting stuff. I love learning about history like this. In so many scholarly fields (poetry, science, etc.) women were left out because men dominated the fields so you don't always hear about the great women of the past. You write lovely articles by the way. I was going to recommend you using the steemiteducation tag. There are lots of people in the educational community here who would enjoy posts like this.
Thank you so much--I really appreciate you stopping by. Funny you mention #steemiteducation--this was inspired by their homework for the week. They asked us to write about a historical person who changed the world (this is bad paraphrasing--can't remember the exact wording). I'm generally inclined to write about women anyway, but as a writer, I couldn't resist writing about the world's first known poet/ one of the first authors of literature in general. With Enheduanna her lack of recognition is probably a lethal combination of her femaleness (because as I alluded to, male historians of Mesopotamia tend to disregard her), and the fact that it's Mesopotamian literature, which was only deciphered <150 years ago (versus Greco-Roman literature, which has been consistently passed down through the ages since it was first written).
Oh, I must disagree. No question about it, she deserves to be way more famous than Shakespeare! That poem about Isis-Inanna is spectacular - and I hadn't even ever heard of this poet! (I only knowthe Hymns to Inanna). I feel dreadful. A wasted life without Enheduanna in it. The imagery (which I find very astrological) is as fresh and living as ever. I got so angry reading your post - with that chauvenist Lugalanne!
All these emotions evoked by a historian (you'll find I fail to respect History as a subject in school in one blog or other: blame it on my tiny family, which is full of historians)!
I vowed never to resteem (I saw no point) but this one I will treasure forever. Your links are hastily followed to read more.
Thank you so much for all the kind words. It's never too late, and now you can spread the word about her to your historian family members (or really, to whomever; it might even make for nice cocktail party conversation). I had a hard time picking out the right excerpts, but I wanted to point to her use of metaphor in particular. If you want a super literal translation, you can find one here, but it's not nearly as readable because they didn't put in the line breaks and translated it as if it were prose (which it isn't). The site that it comes from is mostly used by academics as a guide, but there's plenty of disagreement on how things translate. I know that not all my links are particularly followable, because I was sourcing largely from academic databases and books I have on my shelf, which aren't available in full online for free.
Good thing I don't have room for hardcovers anymore. It is so hard to get cheap secondhand academic works. Any tips where one might also search? I presume for this one it is the best deal you could find? The 2010 edition is dearer - but the same I suppose to all extents and purposes (or a better foreword perhaps)?
Yes, I saw your name when I took a look a day or two back! I'll see how this "adding" might work. beeyou got me a spot on the newbiesresteem channel/forum this week. Haven't tried it yet. More new buttons to figure out....(I only just got a smartphone, you know....not a technophobe, but anarchistically against digital noise. So much for explaining why I wound up here!)
How fascinating! I did an evening course in archaeology at Birkbeck College in London in the 1990s which taught us a lot about Mesopotamia and Ur, but somehow I never came across Enheduanna, even though I was so fascinated with ancient Mesopotamian texts that I used to regularly visit the British Museum to look at the ones they had on display. It's amazing how history can be shaped by the people who write and teach it.
It's crazy--I was looking through my textbooks and in most of them she's just a footnote, or maybe a half paragraph if you're lucky. It was the feminist theorists of the 80s to the present day that really revived her. Her writing was so broadly studied in Mesopotamia for centuries that we have up to 50 copies of some of her works thanks to the scribal schools. It speaks volumes that certain compositions that we only have a few copies of are considered the "great works" of Mesopotamia, but her poetry, which was so treasured at the time, is probably sitting in the archives somewhere.
Another wonderfully-written piece, this time on a woman poet of the Mesopotamian era. In fact, the first known woman poet. Surprising how we all know about Homer and Shakespeare, but not much about the works of the Mesopotamian era, aside from claypots and ancient relics.
What an amazing post and a seriously under rewarded one. I am happy to give you my badge and attendant vote trail but moreso I am happy to have read this post, followed your source links and read some more there and broadened my knowledge of history. This is a story that should be taught in grade school. I nominate your post for the Blockchain Curriculum. And yeah, she was an amazing poet!!!
Much love - Carl "Totally Not A Bot" Gnash / @carlgnash
Click the badge to learn more about
Human Certified Original Works
Thank you so much! I am honored to have contributed to your knowledge of history, particularly with such an amazing woman who also goes under rewarded these days. :)
My head hurts every time I think about human experience and expression that happened millennia ago. It makes me wonder about my own range of emotion and complex thought, and how everyone four thousand years ago was also capable of that. This makes me miss medieval history and digging through people's journals and letters.
I LOVE digging through people’s journals and letters. Absolutely my favorite kind of archive work. I like ancient literature a lot, but the real hidden gems are found when people are being their most emotional/less polished selves, I think. Enheduanna’s poetry in particular is so expressive and personal, and has a distinctly feminine quality to it. IWhen I read it it breaks down that time barrier and makes me feel a small amount of what she felt. At least that’s how I experience it.
Well said and yeah me too. Trips me out to think about, not just 4,000 years ago, but 50,000 years ago, or 100,000 years ago, or longer, there were humans doing human stuff and thinking human thoughts and feeling human emotions and they were every bit as smart and perceptive as me. It is weird to think about.
"high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur" .. that just says it all right there .. I mean some heavy power going on .. Thanks for introsucing me to her work and this poem. These Akkadian temples must have been pretty wild and enchanted places full of energy. When the gods strode the Earth, most definitely ... I love this stuff
This is really interesting stuff. I love learning about history like this. In so many scholarly fields (poetry, science, etc.) women were left out because men dominated the fields so you don't always hear about the great women of the past. You write lovely articles by the way. I was going to recommend you using the steemiteducation tag. There are lots of people in the educational community here who would enjoy posts like this.
Thank you so much--I really appreciate you stopping by. Funny you mention #steemiteducation--this was inspired by their homework for the week. They asked us to write about a historical person who changed the world (this is bad paraphrasing--can't remember the exact wording). I'm generally inclined to write about women anyway, but as a writer, I couldn't resist writing about the world's first known poet/ one of the first authors of literature in general. With Enheduanna her lack of recognition is probably a lethal combination of her femaleness (because as I alluded to, male historians of Mesopotamia tend to disregard her), and the fact that it's Mesopotamian literature, which was only deciphered <150 years ago (versus Greco-Roman literature, which has been consistently passed down through the ages since it was first written).
Oh, I must disagree. No question about it, she deserves to be way more famous than Shakespeare! That poem about Isis-Inanna is spectacular - and I hadn't even ever heard of this poet! (I only knowthe Hymns to Inanna). I feel dreadful. A wasted life without Enheduanna in it. The imagery (which I find very astrological) is as fresh and living as ever. I got so angry reading your post - with that chauvenist Lugalanne!
All these emotions evoked by a historian (you'll find I fail to respect History as a subject in school in one blog or other: blame it on my tiny family, which is full of historians)!
I vowed never to resteem (I saw no point) but this one I will treasure forever. Your links are hastily followed to read more.
Thank you so much for all the kind words. It's never too late, and now you can spread the word about her to your historian family members (or really, to whomever; it might even make for nice cocktail party conversation). I had a hard time picking out the right excerpts, but I wanted to point to her use of metaphor in particular. If you want a super literal translation, you can find one here, but it's not nearly as readable because they didn't put in the line breaks and translated it as if it were prose (which it isn't). The site that it comes from is mostly used by academics as a guide, but there's plenty of disagreement on how things translate. I know that not all my links are particularly followable, because I was sourcing largely from academic databases and books I have on my shelf, which aren't available in full online for free.
Good thing I don't have room for hardcovers anymore. It is so hard to get cheap secondhand academic works. Any tips where one might also search? I presume for this one it is the best deal you could find? The 2010 edition is dearer - but the same I suppose to all extents and purposes (or a better foreword perhaps)?
I have a workaround. Do you have Discord? If so, add me (malloryblythe #8139).
Yes, I saw your name when I took a look a day or two back! I'll see how this "adding" might work. beeyou got me a spot on the newbiesresteem channel/forum this week. Haven't tried it yet. More new buttons to figure out....(I only just got a smartphone, you know....not a technophobe, but anarchistically against digital noise. So much for explaining why I wound up here!)
How fascinating! I did an evening course in archaeology at Birkbeck College in London in the 1990s which taught us a lot about Mesopotamia and Ur, but somehow I never came across Enheduanna, even though I was so fascinated with ancient Mesopotamian texts that I used to regularly visit the British Museum to look at the ones they had on display. It's amazing how history can be shaped by the people who write and teach it.
It's crazy--I was looking through my textbooks and in most of them she's just a footnote, or maybe a half paragraph if you're lucky. It was the feminist theorists of the 80s to the present day that really revived her. Her writing was so broadly studied in Mesopotamia for centuries that we have up to 50 copies of some of her works thanks to the scribal schools. It speaks volumes that certain compositions that we only have a few copies of are considered the "great works" of Mesopotamia, but her poetry, which was so treasured at the time, is probably sitting in the archives somewhere.
Another wonderfully-written piece, this time on a woman poet of the Mesopotamian era. In fact, the first known woman poet. Surprising how we all know about Homer and Shakespeare, but not much about the works of the Mesopotamian era, aside from claypots and ancient relics.
Congratulations you have been upvoted and resteemed as part of #newbieresteemday's top 10 posts for the day! We invite you to use our tag to connect with more of our members. To learn more: Come Join Us!!! (Newbie Resteem Initiative)
Thank you!!
Congratulations you have been upvoted because you left a post in the NewbieResteem Discord Chat channel post Promotion Box.
They also squabbled over whether the city of "Troy" was real.
We invite you to use our tag to connect with more of our members. To learn more visit: Come Join Us!!! (Newbie Resteem Initiative)
Lots of votes made possible due to the kindness of abh12345 and his Steemit Curation Leagues
Thank you so much!
Nice, you are very good at telling stories, this was an interesting read. Nice work with the formatting and the structure of information and sources.
Thanks!
What an amazing post and a seriously under rewarded one. I am happy to give you my badge and attendant vote trail but moreso I am happy to have read this post, followed your source links and read some more there and broadened my knowledge of history. This is a story that should be taught in grade school. I nominate your post for the Blockchain Curriculum. And yeah, she was an amazing poet!!!
Much love - Carl "Totally Not A Bot" Gnash / @carlgnash
Click the badge to learn more about
Human Certified Original Works
Thank you so much! I am honored to have contributed to your knowledge of history, particularly with such an amazing woman who also goes under rewarded these days. :)