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.