Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart : Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess

Title: Inanna, Lady of the Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna Author: Betty de Shong Meador Publisher: University of Texas Press, Austin ISBN: 978-0-292-75242-9 225 pages. Sometime in the third millennium BCE, in Mesopotamia, a woman was appointed high priestess. Her father, Sargon of Agade, was a king focused on enlarging the realm. This occurred when there were many gods worshipped in Sumer. Agade (Akkad) was well to the north of Ur, where the woman, Enheduanna, was appointed. There was the political question of unifying the kingdom. An idea among some scholars is that, by rallying the populace around one god or goddess, a sort of loyalty could be inspired based on that supremacy. Enheduanna’s poems while interesting in other ways, by proclaiming one deity above all others, can be thought to have a unifying role in the kingdom. Enheduanna’s role in the kingdom, combined with her proclamations about Inanna, a goddess, show a cultural element that puts women in general as potentially all-encompassing and as supremely powerful. One of the points of celebration is that expressing a goddess in these dimensions runs counter to the more confining roles we a exposed to via other ancient civilizations. There is therefore, a sort of mother lode of female majesty and ability that is often downplayed in what we read about in other ancient cultures. The discovery of these poems and their meanings, after all these years, is another aspect of celebration. Ms. Meador is careful to point out throughout the book, the other scholars who have uncovered and made sense out of cuneiform and drawings left to us, and discovered only in the last 100 years. Ms. Meador does this, for example, by tracing her own journey as someone well read, but not knowing much about Inanna, to meeting translators who became colleagues in her effort to interpret the poems. This book covers Enheduanna’s works that were known at the time of its writing. These included 42 poems to temples, and three poems that were hymns to Inanna, which are the book’s focus. Ms. Meador provides background on the theology of the Sumerians and how it tied together the provision and storage of food with the powers of the almighty. So Ms. Meador provides us a walk back in time, and finally a note of celebration in the discovery of how a female deity could have been viewed in third millennium Sumer.

The poems were written by Enhudenna, he greatest poet who ever lived, whose work survived centuries and was placed alongside the writings of kings. Her influence probably is even felt today, 27 centuries after she lived and died. An amazing woman, a genius, the first person with whom we can identify a work with a name, and a fine poet to boot. Shakespeare is going strong after four centuries; archeologists found Enhudenna's work to be widely distributed even six centuries after her death and she influenced the form of religious poetry for centuries afterwards. The poems are fascinating; even though stylized, you can appreciate the genius underneath. A fine and unexpected read. Take a chance, you won't be disappointed.

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 beautifully done, reading easily as poetry. If you like goddesses and you like poetry, this is a good thing to check out! I already own "Inanna: Queen of Heaven and of Earth," by Wolkstein, so I am well familiar to Inanna as a goddess of love and warmth. The texts contained in this book are the exact opposite; many show the violent side of Inanna. But this is exactly what is important, because Inanna is a goddess of duality, that symbolizes at many time's man's ancient connection with the spirit and his natural instincts. In ancient Mesopotamia, gods were often feared for their great powers, and harshness upon those that wronged them. Its great to have a new point of view, especially one that is as powerful as this. For the serious student, I'd reccomend getting both books, that way you can have a really clear picture of the glory of Inanna. The author spends a lot of time giving information about the ancient Sumerian customs, which I find to be very useful. For example, the Sumerian marriage rite, which I had never known much about. Now, I do have one complaint about this book. The author tends to include WAY too many references to the Bible, as well as a really strong feminist view point. While this is in fact interesting at times, its taken to the extreme in several places, such as at the end of "Inanna and Mount Ebih." I would say that for those of you that dig gender studies, you'll find it enlightening, but I would have preferred to see more information on the ancient Sumerian way of life. Oh well. Highly reccommended.

This is an excellent exploration into the life, career, beliefs and poetry of Enheduanna. I was surprised to learn that she was the first author in history - so far as we know - who included her name in her work. As for the source of her inspiration, the goddess Inanna, I was exposed to a more fearsome aspect of her nature that was hinted at in Diane Wolkstein’s and Samuel Noah Kramer’s book “Inanna - Queen of Heaven and Earth.” Inanna proved to be a literal earth shaker in Enheduanna’s poems who straddled the feminine and masculine gender roles. Enheduanna seeks to soothe Inanna in her wrath, like a spouse comforting her partner. What is particularly poignant is Enheduanna’s appeal to the goddess for succor and deliverance from a torturous period of exile. Meador translates the text with lively and dramatic inspiration. Inanna and Enheduanna’s relationship affected me on a personal level as it has helped me to understand and ameliorate the occasional tumult between myself and my wife. Enheduanna is a magnificent poet with Inanna as one hell of a muse!

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 Poet, and has gifted us with a work of great beauty. As well as a very challenging vision of the divine feminine. If she has not captured exactly what Enheduanna meant to say, I wonder if the High Priestess would not have said, Oh, I wish I had said that. :) As a Pagan myself I find this a very moving work. Yet I must warn my fellow Pagans Enheduanna's Innana is the Goddess of the New Moon. In her deepest Shadow, and Darkest Fury. Dont look for your fluff and bunnies here.

This book really awakens the ancient great mother within us all! I love how there is a mix of beautiful devotional poetry along with historical evidence! What an amazing archeological dig of the ancient divine feminine!

I found this interesting and there were glimmers of old Testament language of praise. I copied one if the poems for a friend on Messenger and got my account frozen because of the c word. The author loved her body parts. Haha

The author gives emphasis on the cultural and historical significance of the poetry behind the people of Sumer and carefully analyzes the reflection of the poem to High Priestess Enheduanna's devotion to Goddess Inanna. I'm inlove with the book because the author gave importance to facts. Her opinions on the subject of religion are back by facts.

This is a very interesting book. It’s interesting to see theological poetry written by Enheduanna, the high priestess of the moo goddess in Ur, who lived around 2300 BC. This is about 700 years before Abraham, and 1300 years before King David.

Livré partiellement abîmé, très déçu

An exceptionally well written book. There is absolutely no feminist agenda and Betty's Jungian perspective is the perfect view to look upon Enheduanna and her profound poetry. Enheduanna is truely remarkable and all her poetry reflects this, I can really see no better book being written on Enheduanna and is a must read for all humanity. Having finished this book, I'll find myself referring to Enheduanna and Inanna till the day I die.

Eigentlich hätte ich auch 5 Sterne gewählt aber zum kleinen Teil hat es mich enttäuscht. Zunächst das Gute; großartig geschrieben von einer illustren Expertin auf diesem Gebiet. Sehr empfehlenswert für alle, die mehr über die Sumerische Vorstellung beim Polytheismus im allgemeinen und über die dichterische Kunst von der Priesterin erfahren will. Da die Autorin eine Psychologin ist, hätte ich mehr fachliche Gedanken zur Psyche der Priestering erwartet, womöglich ein ganzes Kapitel, da soviel über diese historische Person bereits bekannt ist.

Beautiful book of poetry with chapter analysis