History
Enheduanna
Daughter of Sargon and high priestess of Nanna at Ur, and the earliest author whose name is attached to surviving work.
Illustration of The Akkadian empire, not a likeness of any person on this page.
- Standing:
- A real person. Objects, inscriptions or archives made in their own lifetime carry their name.
- Reigned:
- she did not rule; she held the office of en-priestess at Ur, c. 2300 BCE
- City:
- Ur
- Period:
- The Akkadian empire · c. 2334 to 2154 BCE
What they did
the hymn to Inanna known as the Exaltation of Inanna (ETCSL 4.07.2) and other temple hymns; a disc bearing her name and image was excavated at Ur.
Where the evidence stops
the surviving copies are Old Babylonian, centuries after her, and specialists genuinely disagree how much of the text accumulated in the copying. Authority in these cities ran through the temple as much as the throne, which is why she belongs beside the kings; she was not one, and calling her a queen would be wrong.
Sources
The references this entry is drawn from. ETCSL is the scholarly edition for the Sumerian texts; the rest are general references for the archaeology and the dates.
In the same period
Others our chronology places in The Akkadian empire.
Keep exploring the Chronicle