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by: Betty De Shong Meador
List Price: $24.95Amazon.com's Price: $22.45 You Save: $2.50 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 899.951
EAN: 9780292752429
ISBN: 0292752423
Label: University of Texas Press
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2001-02
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Sales Rank: 485798
Studio: University of Texas Press
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Product Description:
The earliest known author of written literature was a woman named Enheduanna, who lived in ancient Mesopotamia around 2300 BCE. High Priestess to the moon god Nanna, Enheduanna came to venerate the goddess Inanna above all gods in the Sumerian pantheon. The hymns she wrote to Inanna constitute the earliest written portrayal of an ancient goddess. In their celebration of Enheduanna's relationship with Inanna, they also represent the first existing account of an individual's consciousness of her inner life.
This book provides the complete texts of Enheduanna's hymns to Inanna, skillfully and beautifully rendered by Betty De Shong Meador, who also discusses how the poems reflect Enheduanna's own spiritual and psychological liberation from being an obedient daughter in the shadow of her ruler father. Meador frames the poems with background information on the religious and cultural systems of ancient Mesopotamia and the known facts of Enheduanna's life. With this information, she explores the role of Inanna as the archetypal feminine, the first goddess who encompasses both the celestial and the earthly and shows forth the full scope of women's potential.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Simply Beautifal.
As I am not a professional in the area of Archeology, I will leave that aspect to the other reviewers.
However comparing Ms Meador's translation to some I have found online. Such as Lady of the Largest Heart Vs Lady of the Stoutest Heart. Reminds us all to clearly, it takes a real poet to translate a poet.
Lady of the Largest Heart, is a poingant and tortured piece. Vs Lady of the Stoutest Heart which reads like Soviet Era Hero Poetry.
Betty is a very talented ... Read More
Rating: - even large enough for highbrough
Not often does one have the profound experience of being drawn through the pages of a contemporary writer, but I must say that the realization of oneself is expressed masterfully through the phrases of this wonderfully made book.
Rating: - GREAT POEMS!!!
As someone intensely interested in Inanna, as well as the ancient Sumerian gods and religeon, this book was exactly what I needed to better understand some of the most important concepts.
Three complete poems of Enheduanna are represented here, and just the first one, "Inanna and Mount Ebih," is well worth the price of this book alone. There are many other small poems, little titbits of the ancient Sumerian hymns, which are equally enlightening. The translations, as well as the original texts are ... Read More
Rating:  - Interesting but misguided views
If all you are looking for is a somewhat sensationalized view of the "First woman poet in history", then this book would serve the purpose. However, the author is essentially a Jungian scholar attempting to study the psyche of a high-priestess born almost 5000 years ago - based on out-dated (40 years+) opinions of other Assyriologists and Mesopotamian specialists. Her translations of those literary compositions attributed to Enheduana are also based on readings of Sumerian signs from outdated collations, ... Read More
Rating:  - Good translating, forget most of the commentary
This up-to-date rendition of Sumerian religious poetry and hymns can be reviewed in two areas. The first: that of the theories around the poems/hymns; the second: the actual translations. Five stars the latter, two stars the former.
The first part is given over to discussion of the Sumerian culture and the mythology of Inanna. The first chapter dupes as an intro and is autobiographical, which is nice, as it's good to see why an author has chosen to write any book. Chapter Two could be summed up by the ... Read More
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