(17.9 × 4.1 cm) Proto-cuneiform inscriptions The British Museum, London, acquired from Dr. Another remarkable work, bearing the earliest known artist’s signature, records the donation of an estate on behalf of a woman named Shara-igizi-Abzu ( Figure 11).įigure 10: Stone scraper and chisel recording the first woman known by name, Jemdet Nasr–Early Dynastic period, ca. For instance, a pair of objects shaped like crafting tools record the first woman in history known by name, KA-GÍR-gal, who may have been involved in a land sale ( Figure 10). Many of these women took part in economic transactions, oversaw festive banquets, and participated in religious rituals.
Portraiture in ancient Mesopotamia was more concerned with capturing an individual’s essence than her likeness, and these portraits stood for the depicted individuals in sanctuaries, in proximity to the divine for perpetuity ( Figure 9). Mortal women likewise featured a rich repertoire of hairstyles, garments, and accessories as reflected in their votive portraits. (17.4 × 16 × 2.1 cm) Musée du Louvre, Départment des Antiquités Orientales, Paris, excavated 1881 AO 276. Simply put, her presence preserved the cycle of life in early Mesopotamia, so clearly displayed in the celebrated Uruk Vase ( Figure 6 ).įig 8: Wall plaque with priest before the goddess Ninhursag, Girsu (modern Tello), Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. In fact, the concord between her and the ruler was central to the sustenance of the people, the maintenance of the herds, and the well-being of the land ( Figure 5 ). As a warlike goddess, she was fierce and unforgiving, but she supported her favorite kings in battle and legitimized their political power. For instance, reed-ring bundles, which served as doorposts in the marshes of southern Mesopotamia, resembled the cuneiform rendering of Inanna’s name and became a visual symbol for her presence ( Figure 4). The fourth millennium BC marks the earliest symbolic representations of deities. To fully appreciate the role of women in ancient Mesopotamia, one must also look to their divine counterparts, goddesses. (4.3 × 2.5 cm) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, acquired from Elias Solomon David, 1912 VA 03878. These works bear testament to women’s roles in religious contexts as goddesses, priestesses, and worshippers, as well as in social, economic, and political spheres as mothers, workers, and rulers.įigure 3: Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with two female figures presenting offerings, Early Dynastic IIIa period, ca. Making Enheduanna its focal point, this exhibition, co-curated by Sidney Babcock and Erhan Tamur, brings together a comprehensive selection of artworks that capture rich and shifting expressions of women’s lives in Mesopotamia during the late fourth and third millennia BC. Her poetry reflected her deep devotion to the goddess of sexual love and warfare-Inanna in Sumerian, Ishtar in Akkadian. 2334–2279 BC), Enheduanna not only exercised considerable religious, political, and economic influence but also left an indelible mark on world literature by composing extraordinary works in Sumerian. As the daughter of the Akkadian king Sargon (ca. She received this name, which means “high priestess, ornament of heaven” in Sumerian, upon her appointment to the temple of the moon god in Ur, a city in southern Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq. The first author known by name in history was a woman: Enheduanna.