Enheduanna: The First Author in History

Four thousand three hundred years ago, a woman named Enheduanna became the first human being in recorded

history whose name we know as both author and thinker. Not a king. Not a warrior.

A poet and priestess who understood something profound about the power of words. Enheduanna was appointed

high priestess of the moon god Nanna in the Sumerian city of Ur by her father,

King Sargon of Akkad. But her role transcended ceremony. She composed hymns and poems that weren't

just religious texts. They were philosophical arguments written in cuneiform on clay tablets,

exploring the nature of divine power, human suffering, and cosmic order. Her most famous

work, the Exaltation of Inanna, reveals her intellectual depth.