Who Was The First Writer?

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 25 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 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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Transcript

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0:00.0	So goodbye to the dish and to load to Skystream.
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0:30.5	Welcome, everybody.
0:34.2	Welcome to Dance Know's History.
0:35.5	I know I say we're going back to the beginning quite a lot,
0:37.8	but this time we are actually going back to the beginning.
0:40.2	We're going back to the beginning of literature.
0:42.4	There is obviously some controversy,
0:45.0	but it's widely accepted that the first named author
0:48.8	that we have in their historical record is a woman.
0:52.5	In Hedewana, high pre-stess of the moon god
	...

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