Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, Poetess (Routledge Ancient Biographies) by Alhena Gadotti: A Book Review
Author: Alhena Gadotti
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: May 2, 2025
Pages: 132
Source: Personal Collection
Synopsis: Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, Poetess offers the first comprehensive biography of Enheduana, daughter of Sargon of Agade and one of the most intriguing, yet elusive, women from antiquity.
Royal princess, priestess, and alleged author, Enheduana deserves as much attention as her martial relatives. A crucial contributor to her father’s military ambitions, Enheduana nonetheless wielded religious and economic power, as evidenced by primary and secondary sources. Even more interestingly, Enheduana remained alive in the cultural memory of those who came after her, so much so that works attributed to her were integrated into the scribal curriculum centuries after her death. This book aims to situate Enheduana in her own historical context, allowing readers to gain a better understanding of this enigmatic figure, her roles as princess, priestess, and poetess, and the tumultuous times in which she lived.
This book is suitable for students, scholars, and the general reader interested in the history of the ancient Near East, ancient literature, and women in the ancient world.
My Review: Enheduana is generally considered to be the world’s first recorded author. She was the daughter of King Sargon of the Akkadian Empire. She was the High Priestess of Nanna in the city of Ur. She wrote religious poetry. In this first biography of Enheduana, it examined Enheduana’s role in the Akkadian empire. It also highlights her literary achievements.
I was ecstatic when this book came out. There has never been a biography of Enheduana before, and I wanted to see what this new biography would be like. I have written a history article of Enheduana and read her poems. Therefore, I couldn’t wait to read more about it in detail and gain a lot of new information. This was a very short biography, which is a little over a hundred pages. However, as short as it was, it was very drawn out. In fact, Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, and Poetess did not focus much on Enheduana. Instead, it was mostly about the men in her life.
Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, and Poetess was also filled with many speculations and conjectures. One example is what Enheduana must have been like as a princess and what education she may have received (if she received any at all). Another example is what her possible duties as high priestess may have been like. Therefore, there was not much factual information about her. The author also speculates that Enheduana did write poetry but doesn’t believe that she was the author of the poems attributed to her. She believes that in the poems attributed to her, she was a traditional character. All of her speculations are not backed up with solid evidence.
Overall, this was a very comprehensive but disappointing biography. There is not much information about Enheduana, and this biography evidently shows that she is a difficult subject to write about. I have to admit that I found more information about Enheduana in academic journals than this biography gave me. Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, and Poetess was easy to understand, but the numerous speculations proves that the author almost leaned closer to historical fiction than nonfiction. In fact, this work would have been better as a historical fiction novel instead of a nonfiction work. Therefore, Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, and Poetess is interesting because it is the first biography written about her. However, I suggest you skip this book and read her poems. You will learn more about Enheduana and her place in the ancient world in Sophus Helle’s book Enheduana: The Complete Poems about the World’s First Author. I do believe that Enheduana should be paid more attention. Hopefully, there will be more studies on her in the future!
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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