Enheduanna - Primal Priestess (the image title is Enheduanna spelled in Sumerian cuneiform) This is the lovely Tara who was gifted to me by Val (Godin) many, many months ago. --------------------------- Enheduanna was the first great High Priestess of the Akkadian moon God Sin (=Sumerian Nanna), at Ur (ancient Iraq). She was the first known author in recorded history to write in the first person, i.e. she was the first to identify herself in person in her writings. She lived around 2300-2225 BCE and was revered as the most important religious figure of her day. Her father was Sargon of Akkad while her mother is believed to have been a high ranking Sumerian priestess. While her official title was High Priestess to the God Nanna, her real passion was for the Goddess Inanna for whom she wrote several poems. The two most famous of her surviving known works are hymns to the goddess: The Exaltation of Inanna and In-nin sa-gur-ra. Through her powerful songs to Inanna, the goddess of Love and War she changed the course of history and was remembered for centuries after her death. Her writings are so intriguing and beautiful that amongst scholars she is sometimes called the "Shakespeare of Sumer." It is through the works of Enheduanna that we know of the Goddess Inanna today. She likens Inanna to a great storm bird who swoops down on the lesser gods and sends them fluttering off like surprised bats. What I have described in this series is my take on what is known to be historical fact. At the start of the Akkadian conquest of the cities of Sumer they had a war Goddess named Ishtar. Sometime during this many years long campaign the Akkadian's adopted the much more gentle Sumerian Goddess Inanna and merged her with their Ishtar to create the Goddess of Love and War as she later became known in history. This transformation and adoption was a direct result of the works of Enheduanna. Something else that the Akkadian's picked up was the Sumerian cuneiform script, which became their language of high law and religion... essentially the same thing in those times. Enheduanna's surviving scripts are all in Sumerian cuneiform whereas her father, Sargon, wrote all his scripts in Akkadian. Remember, Enheduanna's mother was a Sumerian preistess and she likely had a strong influence on her only daughter. Now some of you will no doubt notice that I have always called Ishtar by her Akkadian name, whereas the Goddess of Sumer who did this counterstrike on Sargon's court should have been called Inanna. This is purely an artifact of my personal history. When I turned to Wicca during a time of intense personal turmoil it was Ishtar who spoke her name - I needed the warrior side of her spirit. So I have always called her Ishtar, but in this series the deity I have been dealing with should have been called Inanna. But, as both Sargon and Alora learned, it really makes little difference as we now accept that these are just two names, two faces, for the same deity, one reflecting her warlike side and the other her loving, compassionate side. Blessed Be my dear Enheduanna, you were one of the most gracious and wise persons to ever walk upon this earth. And many thanks to all of you for sticking with me in this long chapter of the Ishtar and the Search for Knowledge legend. Previous

"We are One"