"Awakening the World to Awe"

The title above, "Awakening the World to Awe" is from a hymn or holy poem by the Priestess Enheduanna, of Sumer who lived about 4300 years ago in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in one of the first civilizations, an urban center which may have held up to 50,000 inhabitants. I bring Enheduanna to you today for Women's History Month and because she is currently considered the first author in the first writing, the cuneiform tablets of Sumer. I was reading an article about the use of artificial intelligence to translate the cuneiform writing on the clay tablets into modern English. The article stated that only a handful of experts in the world can read with any fluency from the clay tablets which hold records of the first civilization in human history.

Rather than literature, most of the early tablets are basic accounts, cattle shipped, beer allotted, bushels of grain stored, etc. The tablets of Enheduanna, in contrast, contain prayers and hymns to the Goddess which describe her powers and the attempts of humans to appease her.

I apologise but I must recount this educational anecdote. When I took a year long course called Survey of World Literature back in the early 70's, our syllaus contained NOT ONE female author. When I brought this up to the professor, he calmly stated that if there had been any of note or worth they would have been included. I argued with him and he set me the task of creating a bibliography over summer break, which I did. I learned so much! The first true 'novel' was written by Lady Murasaki (978-1014) and was called Tale of Genji. I learned about and read samples of literature,renowned in its own time, written by women, for every historic period period and turned in my research the next semester. The professor had created a course called Women in Literature, but sadly it was novels by men that featured women such as Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert. He had missed the point entirely, but I had learned a lot. I had not, at that time, discovered Enheduanna, but I find her in all sorts of magazines these days.

Hence for Women's History Month, the first known author - Enheduanna, and the author of the world's first novel, Lady Murasaki. Oh, how times have changed!

By the way, I am working on an art project for St. Patrick's Day that includes Lady Isabelle Gregory (another author, but of more modern times) and the activist Bernadette Devlin, and assassinated journalist Veronica Guerrin of Ireland. So for a combo, you can honor St. Patricks Day with some Irish History and also Women's History Month!

Happy Trails, Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com