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

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.

Author: Betty de Shong Meador
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 02/01/2001
Pages: 245
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 9.07h x 6.09w x 0.73d
ISBN: 9780292752429


Review Citation(s):
Women's Review of Books 07/01/2001 pg. 37
Choice 09/01/2001 pg. 111
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2002 pg. 91 - Recommended/Special Interest

About the Author
Betty De Shong Meador is a Jungian analyst in private practice, who also teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies and at New College, both in San Francisco, and at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.