The HyperTexts
The Temple Hymns of Enheduanna
with modern English translations by Michael R. Burch
This page contains modern English translations of a number of poems
written by Enheduanna:
"The Exaltation of Inanna"
"Hymn to Inanna"
"Lament to the Spirit of War"
and several Temple Hymns
Enheduanna, the daughter of the famous King Sargon the Great of Akkad, is the first
ancient writer whose name remains known today. She appears to be the first named poet in
human history, the first known author of prayers and hymns, and the first
librarian and anthologist. Enheduanna was an innovator, doing things that had
never been done before, as she said herself:
These are my innovations,
O Mighty Queen, Inanna, that I made for You!
What I composed for You by the dark of night,
The cantor will chant by day.
—Enheduanna,
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Enheduanna,
who lived circa 2285-2250 BCE, is also one of the first women we know by name.
Far ahead of her time, Enheduanna reigned supreme as the greatest female poet
until she (finally!) had serious competition with the births, more than 1500
years later, of poets like
Sappho of Lesbos, Erinna, Korinna (all
three circa 600 BCE), Tzu Yeh, Sui Hui, Anyte of Tegea, Sulpicia, Zu Hui, Ono no
Komachi, Anna Komnene, Marie de France, Christine de Pizan, Huang E, Veronica
Franco, Fukuda Chiyo-ni, Hồ Xuân Hương, the Bronte sisters, Emily Dickinson,
Christina Rossetti, Anne Reeve Aldrich, Sarojini Naidu, Renee Vivien, Anna
Akhmatova, Sarah Teasdale, Elinor Wylie, Louise Bogan, Edna St. Vincent Millay,
Dorothy Parker, Marina Tsvetaeva, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, Fadwa
Tuqan, Wisława Szymborska, Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Plath, Eavan Boland and Vera
Pavlova!
You have given wings to the storm, O Beloved of Enlil!
Enheduanna
was the entu (high priestess) of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar/Astarte/Aphrodite) and the
moon god Nanna (Sin) in the Sumerian city-state
of Ur. Enheduanna's composition Nin-me-šara ("The Exaltation of Inanna") details her expulsion
from Ur, located in southern Iraq, along with her prayerful request to the
goddess for reinstatement.
Beloved Lady of An and Uraš!
Hierodule of An, sun-adorned and bejeweled!
Heaven’s Mistress with the holy diadem,
Who loves the beautiful headdress befitting the office of her high
priestess!
—Enheduanna,
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Enheduanna also composed 42
liturgical hymns addressed to temples
across Sumer and Akkad. She was also the first editor of a poetry
anthology, hymnal or songbook, and the first poet to write in
the first person. Her Sumerian Temple Hymns was the first collection of its kind; indeed, Enheduanna so claimed
in closing: "My king, something has been created that no one had
created before." Today poems and songs are still being assembled via the
model she established over 4,000 years ago! Enheduanna may also have been the
first feminist, as I explain in the notes that follow my translations of her
poems.—MRB
Archivists and scholars, please note that these are my most up-to-date and
definitive translations of Enheduanna.
Lament to the Spirit of War
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
You hack down everything you see, War God!
Rising on fearsome wings
you rush to destroy our land:
raging like thunderstorms,
howling like hurricanes,
screaming like tempests,
thundering, raging, ranting, drumming,
whiplashing whirlwinds!
Men falter at your approaching footsteps.
Tortured dirges scream
on your lyre of despair.
Like a fiery Salamander you poison the land:
growling over the earth like thunder,
vegetation collapsing before you,
blood gushing down mountainsides.
Spirit of hatred, greed and vengeance!
Dominatrix of heaven and earth!
Your ferocious fire consumes our land.
Whipping your stallion
with furious commands,
you impose our fates.
You triumph over all human rites and prayers.
Who can explain your tirade,
why you carry on so?
Temple Hymn 15
to the Gishbanda Temple of Ningishzida
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Most ancient and terrible shrine,
set deep in the mountain,
dark
like a mother's womb ...
Dark shrine,
like a mother's wounded breast,
blood-red and terrifying ...
Though approaching through a safe-seeming field,
our hair stands on end as we near you!
Gishbanda,
like a neck-stock,
like a fine-eyed fish net,
like a foot-shackled prisoner's manacles ...
your ramparts are massive,
like a trap!
But once we’re inside,
as the sun rises,
you yield widespread abundance!
Your prince
is the pure-handed priest of Inanna, heaven's Holy One,
Lord Ningishzida!
Oh, see how his thick, lustrous hair
cascades down his back!
Oh Gishbanda,
he has built this beautiful temple to house your radiance!
He has placed his throne upon your dais!
Ningishzida was a deity of the Netherworld: he was the chair-bearer who
carried notable persons to their destination. The ancient Sumerians believed the
Netherworld was set deep in the mountains, so a mountain shrine was perhaps a
"natural" for Ningishzida.
The Exaltation of Inanna: Opening Lines and Excerpts
Nin-me-šara
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Lady of all divine powers!
Lady of the resplendent light!
Righteous Lady arrayed in heavenly radiance!
Beloved Lady of An and Uraš!
Hierodule of An, sun-adorned and bejeweled!
Heaven’s Mistress with the holy diadem,
Who loves the beautiful headdress befitting the office of her high
priestess!
Powerful Mistress, seizer of the seven divine powers!
My Heavenly Lady, guardian of the seven divine powers!
You have seized the seven divine powers!
You hold the divine powers in your hand!
You have gathered together the seven divine powers!
You have clasped the divine powers to your breast!
You have flooded the valleys with venom, like a viper;
all vegetation vanishes when you thunder like Iškur!
You have caused the mountains to flood the valleys!
When you roar like that, nothing on earth can withstand you!
Like a flood descending on floodplains, O Powerful One, you will teach
foreigners to fear Inanna!
You have given wings to the storm, O Beloved of Enlil!
The storms do your bidding, blasting unbelievers!
Foreign cities cower at the chaos You cause!
Entire countries cower in dread of Your deadly South Wind!
Men cower before you in their anguished implications,
raising their pitiful outcries,
weeping and wailing, beseeching Your benevolence with many wild lamentations!
But in the van of battle, everything falls before You, O Mighty Queen!
My Queen,
You are all-conquering, all-devouring!
You continue Your attacks like relentless storms!
You howl louder than the howling storms!
You thunder louder than Iškur!
You moan louder than the mournful winds!
Your feet never tire from trampling Your enemies!
You produce much wailing on the lyres of lamentations!
My Queen,
all the Anunna, the mightiest Gods,
fled before Your approach like fluttering bats!
They could not stand in Your awesome Presence
nor behold Your awesome Visage!
Who can soothe Your infuriated heart?
Your baleful heart is beyond being soothed!
Uncontrollable Wild Cow, elder daughter of Sin,
O Majestic Queen, greater than An,
who has ever paid You enough homage?
O Life-Giving Goddess, possessor of all powers,
Inanna the Exalted!
Merciful, Live-Giving Mother!
Inanna, the Radiant of Heart!
I have exalted You in accordance with Your power!
I have bowed before You in my holy garb,
I the En, I Enheduanna!
Carrying my masab-basket, I once entered and uttered my joyous chants ...
But now I no longer dwell in Your sanctuary.
The sun rose and scorched me.
Night fell and the South Wind overwhelmed me.
My laughter was stilled and my honey-sweet voice grew strident.
My joy became dust.
O Sin, King of Heaven, how bitter my fate!
To An, I declared: An will deliver me!
I declared it to An: He will deliver me!
But now the kingship of heaven has been seized by Inanna,
at Whose feet the floodplains lie.
Inanna the Exalted,
who has made me tremble together with all Ur!
Stay Her anger, or let Her heart be soothed by my supplications!
I, Enheduanna will offer my supplications to Inanna,
my tears flowing like sweet intoxicants!
Yes, I will proffer my tears and my prayers to the Holy Inanna,
I will greet Her in peace ...
O My Queen, I have exalted You,
Who alone are worthy to be exalted!
O My Queen, Beloved of An,
I have laid out Your daises,
set fire to the coals,
conducted the rites,
prepared Your nuptial chamber.
Now may Your heart embrace me!
These are my innovations,
O Mighty Queen, Inanna, that I made for You!
What I composed for You by the dark of night,
The cantor will chant by day.
Now Inanna’s heart has been restored,
and the day has become favorable to Her.
Clothed in beauty, radiant with joy,
she carries herself like the elegant moonlight.
Now to the Noble Hierodule,
to the Wrecker of foreign lands
presented by An with the seven divine powers,
and to my Queen garbed in the radiance of heaven ...
O Inanna, praise!
[Earlier Version]
Lady of all divine powers,
Lady of the all-resplendent light,
Righteous Lady clothed in heavenly radiance,
Beloved Lady of An and Uraš,
Mistress of heaven with the holy diadem,
Who loves the beautiful headdress befitting the office of her high priestess,
Powerful Mistress who has seized all seven divine powers,
My lady, you are the guardian of the seven divine powers!
You have seized the divine powers,
You hold the divine powers in your hand,
You have gathered up the divine powers,
You have clasped the divine powers to your breast!
Like a dragon you have spewed venom on foreign lands that know you not!
When you roar like Iškur at the earth, nothing can withstand you!
Like a flood descending on alien lands, O Powerful One of heaven and earth, you
will teach them to fear Inanna!
Excerpt from “Hymn to Inanna” aka “Inanna C.”
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Great-hearted Mistress,
wild rambunctious Lady,
exalted among the
Anuna,
exalted in all lands,
great Daughter of Nanna,
eminent among
the Igigi gods,
magnificent Lady who gathers
the divine powers of
heaven and earth,
who rivals even An,
mightiest among the great gods!
She who rules the gods
and makes their verdicts final
as the Anuna gods
crawl before her,
fearing her perilous word.
She whose intentions
confound even An,
yet he dare not countermand her.
She reverses course
but no one knows when or why.
She perfects the great divine powers;
she
seizes the shepherd's crook
and assumes command.
No one questions her
magnificence, her preeminence.
Like a mighty shackle she constrains the
gods.
Her splendor shrouds the mountains, makes crooked roads straight.
Her bellows fill lesser gods with fear.
Her howls make the Anuna gods
tremble like reeds.
Hearing her roars, they hide together.
Without
Inanna, An makes no decisions,
Enlil decrees no destinies.
Who
questions a Queen who towers over mountains?
Wherever she speaks, cities
become ruins and haunts for ghosts,
shrines become wastes.
When her
wrath makes people tremble, the fever and distress they feel
are like a man
caught in the coils of an ulu demon.
Temple Hymn 1: an Excerpt
to E-Abzu, the Temple of Enki in Eridu
by
Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
House of the Ziggurat, sprouted from heaven and earth!
Great hall of
Eridu, foundation of heaven and earth!
Deep-sea shrine built for your Lord,
by the sacred canals!
Yours is the Ziggurat, the shrine that reaches
heaven!
Lord Enki holds court in your House of subterranean waters,
takes his seat upon your throne!
Temple Hymn 2: an Excerpt
to E-Kur, the Temple of Enlil in Nippur
by
Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Great House of the Mountain, shrine where destinies are determined.
Foundation of your high-raised Ziggurat, home of Enlil.
Your door beam is a
mountaintop pinnacle, your pilasters summits.
Your base is rooted in heaven
and earth, and serves them both.
Your lord, the great lord Enlil, the good
lord, the lord of limitless heaven, the god who determines destinies, the
Great Mountain Enlil, has erected his house in your holy court and taken his
seat on your dais.
Temple Hymn 3
to E-Kiur, the Temple of Ninlil in Nippur
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
(Ninlil was Enlil’s consort and her shrine in Nippur was also called the
House of Tummal.)
O Tummal, deemed exceedingly worthy by the divine powers, inspiring awe and
dread! Formidable foundation, your radiance spans the abzu.
Ancient city,
your marshlands remain green with mature reeds and new shoots.
Your
interior, a mountain of plenteous abundance.
For your New Year’s feasts,
you are wondrously adorned, as the great queen of Kiur stands as Enlil’s
equal.
Your lady, mother Ninlil, beloved wife of Enlil, has erected her
house in your holy court, O House of Tummal, and has taken her place upon your
dais.
Temple Hymn 4: an Excerpt
to E-melem-huc, the Temple of Nuska in Nippur
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
(Nuska was Enlil’s servant and divine vizier.)
O house of furious radiance, wrapped in terrifying light.
Magnificent
shrine, assigned the divine powers by heaven.
Treasury of Enlil, founded by
the divine powers.
Worthy of nobility, your noble head exalted in
princeship, counselor of E-kur.
Your rampart like a huge horn.
Your
house, the platform of heaven.
In the River Ordeal, where great judgments are rendered and mighty suits
settled, your verdicts allow the righteous to live but consign evil hearts to
final darkness.
***
River Ordeal,
we require your wisdom.
Only you know, in your
turbulent depths,
the heart of this maiden, or sorceress,
whether she is
pure or full of mischief.
Thus we have bound her hands and feet.
Only
you can free her, if she is innocent.
Surely the gods would not let us
drown an innocent girl!
River Ordeal,
we require your wisdom.
—Michael R. Burch
Temple Hymn 7: an Excerpt
to the Kesh Temple of Ninhursag
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
O, high-situated Kesh,
form-shifting summit,
inspiring fear like a venomous viper!
O, Lady of the Mountains,
Ninhursag’s house was constructed on a terrifying site!
O, Kesh, like holy Aratta: your womb dark and deep,
your walls high-towering and imposing!
O, great lion of the wildlands stalking the high plains! ...
NOTE: Ninhursag was the goddess of nature and animals, wild and tame. She was
also the goddess of the womb and form-shaping. And she was the patron deity of
Kesh.
Temple Hymn 17: an Excerpt
to the Badtibira Temple of Dumuzi
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
O, house of jeweled lapis illuminating the radiant bed
in the peace-inducing palace of our Lady of the Steppe!
Temple Hymn 22: an Excerpt
to the Sirara Temple of Nanshe
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
O, house, you wild cow!
Made to conjure signs of the Divine!
You arise, beautiful to behold,
bedecked for your Mistress!
Temple Hymn 26: an Excerpt
to the Zabalam Temple of Inanna
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
O house illuminated by beams of bright light,
dressed in shimmering stone jewels,
awakening the world to awe!
Temple Hymn 42: an Excerpt
to the Eresh Temple of Nisaba
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
O, house of brilliant stars
bright with lapis stones,
you illuminate all lands!
...
The person who put this tablet together
is Enheduanna.
My king: something never created before,
did she not give birth to it?
NOTES
The name
En-hedu-anna, probably either a title or adopted, was apparently compiled
from "En" (Chief Priest or Priestess), "hedu" (Ornament) and "Ana" (of Heaven).
She was considered to be the Ornament of Heaven. Enheduanna was the first royal daughter known to have been given the title "En" in a
line that would extend for five hundred years. Enheduanna would serve as En, or
High Priestess,
during the reigns of her father Sargon, her brother Rimush, and perhaps under
his successors Manishtushu and Naram-Sin.
Sumerian literature is the earliest known human literature and the Sumerian
language is the oldest language for which writing exists. Enheduanna is the
first named Sumerian writer, and thus she is the first writer known by name in
human history. She also read and wrote Akkadian. William Hallo called her the
Shakespeare of her time.
Enheduanna may have been the first feminist, or at least
the first feminist we know by name. In one of her poems the goddess Inanna kills
An, the former chief deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon, and thus becomes the
supreme leader of the gods. It seems Enheduanna may have "promoted" a local female deity
to the Queen of Heaven. Might this be considered the first feminist poem? Was
Enheduanna commenting on the male-dominated society in which she lived, and
perhaps even "projecting" her wishes on male rivals, to some degree?
Enheduanna may have been something of a propagandist and self-promoter. Sargon the Great
appears to have ruled over a larger empire and more people than anyone before
him. Getting everyone to believe in the same supreme
deity would have helped him consolidate his gains, since he ruled over a large, diverse
and
expanding empire. Also, by promoting her personal goddess to the position of chief
deity, Enheduanna could have enhanced her own position, influence and power. To
have
been the high priestess of a goddess whom "nothing can withstand" and who "loves
the beautiful headdress befitting the office of her high priestess" would
have proved
very convenient, indeed, in power struggles!
It is believed that Enheduanna's petitionary prayers influenced the psalms of
the Hebrew Bible, the epics of Homer, and Christian hymns. Experts have noted
that the Sumerian gods seemed more compassionate and more embracing of all
people after Enheduanna, than before her ministrations.
Enheduanna organized and presided over Ur's temple complex, until an attempted
coup by a Sumerian rebel named Lugal-Ane forced her into exile. According
to William W. Hallo and J.J.A. van Dijk, a man named Lugalanne or Lugalanna
"played a role" in the great revolt against Naram-Sin (the grandson of Sargon). In one of her
poems Enheduanna prayed for An to "undo" her fate. (Was this before she wrote
the poem in which Inanna killed An?) Apparently the prayer worked and Enheduanna
was restored to her position as high priestess of Inanna. She served in that
role for around 40 years. After her death, she became a minor deity herself.
Enheduanna is best known for her poems Inninsagurra, Ninmesarra
and Inninmehusa, which translate as "The Great-Hearted Mistress," "The
Exaltation of Inanna" and "The Goddess of the Fearsome Powers." All three are
hymns to the goddess Inanna.
Inanna would later be associated with Ishtar, Astarte and Aphrodite. Inanna was the
goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, justice and
political power.
Amazingly, we have a depiction of the first poet/anthologist, because in 1927 the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley found the
now-famous Enheduanna calcite disc in his excavations of Ur. The disc is
circular, perhaps mean to represent the moon. It shows four people entering the
ziggurat of Ur. Inscriptions on the disc identify the four figures: Enheduanna, her
estate manager Adda, her hair dresser Ilum Palilis, and her scribe Sagadu. The
royal inscription on the disc reads: "Enheduanna, zirru-priestess, wife of the
god Nanna, daughter of Sargon, king of the world, in the temple of the
goddess Inanna." The figure of Enheduanna is placed prominently on the disc
emphasizing her importance in relation to the others and, further, her position
of great power and influence over the culture of her time. Enheduanna is larger
and more ornately dressed than the men on the disc, speaking of her prominence.
Her name is inscribed on the back of the disc.
Related pages:
Sappho of Lesbos,
The Best Translations of Michael R. Burch,
Poems
for Poets
The HyperTexts