Enheduanna: The World's First Author

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's hard to imagine a time when we didn't write things down- on stone, papyrus or parchment. Who was the first to actually put 'pen to paper' and write. Well, her name was Enheduanna. She was an Akkadian poet, writer and high priestess, remembered as the first named author in recorded history. She lived in the 3rd millennium BCE in the city-state of Ur, and was a figure of immense significance in the Mesopotamian world. As the high priestess of the moon god Nanna, she would help to cement ties between the newly merged Sumerian and Akkadian civilisations. She would also pen the first authored literary works, and her poems on womanhood and faith hold great meaning through to this day. Dan speaks to Sidney Babcock, the Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator at the Morgan Library and Museum, to find out how we know so much about her, and what her significance is today.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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1:33.0	Welcome everybody, welcome to Dance Noose History. I know I say we're going back to the beginning quite a lot, but this time we are actually going back to the beginning.
1:39.0	We're going back to the beginning of literature. There is obviously some controversy, but it's widely accepted that the first named author that we have in their historical record is a woman.
1:51.0	In Hedewana, high priestess of the moon god in the Sumerian city-state of Ur during the reign of her father, Sargan of Akad.
2:03.0	Sargan was an empire builder and he was installed his daughter in this essential religious position.
2:11.0	And when there she wrote some beautiful poetry that you'll be hearing excerpts from in this podcast.
2:17.0	We're going to be talking to Sydney Babcock. He is the Jeanette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head of Ancient Near Eastern Seals and Tablets at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
2:29.0	It's one of the most magical space in the city and they've got an exhibition on at the moment about in Hedewana and other authors.
2:39.0	She lived in Mary, we'd now describe as Iraq in the 23rd century BC. That is a couple of hundred years after the building of the great pyramid at Giza in Egypt.
2:51.0	This is right at the beginning of recorded history.
2:55.0	It is a fascinating story and one that you'll hear that for all its distance from us, that's some pretty universal messages. Enjoy.
3:05.0	The Tablets found, trapped on, you know sheep, God saved the king.
	...

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