Enheduana of Sumer - The First Known Author

Summary:
          Enheduana of Sumer was the daughter of King Sargon, who ruled two ancient city-states, near to where modern Baghdad is today, called Akkad and Kish.  She had two twin brothers; Rimush and Manishtusu, whom Sargon expected to become kings of his two cities.  Unfortunately for him, both brothers enjoyed war too much, and both were killed by enemies of the palace. 
          Although her two brothers weren't very successful during their lifespans, Enheduana showed promise ever since she had become a teenager.  Her father noticed how mature she was, and immediately promoted her to high priestess to the moon God of Sumer, Nanna.  To fulfill the obligations required of her as high priestess, Enheduana moved to a city south of Akkad to Ur.  Situated near the center of Ur, there was a ziggurat temple with seven different-colored stories.  As high priestess, Enheduana used the blue room at the top, closest to heaven, to complete her duties.          
         The people of Sumer believed that their gods controlled everything, and that it was only through praying and making sacrifices to them that mild weather, healthy crops and livestock, and good fortune would be granted to them.  To appease the gods, Enheduana prayed to them, carried out rituals, and sacrificed animals, and burned incense.  One of the most vital rituals Enheduana needed to complete in order to keep the gods happy was a ritual to celebrate the spring New Year.  She needed to act out the legend of a hallowed marriage between a lowly shepherd called Dumuzi, and the moon goddess, Inanna.  Enheduana would be the goddess, and some high-ranking man would be Dumuzi. 

Inanna/Ishtar

          Although Enheduana was kept busy with her obligations as a priestess, she still found a lot of time to write.  Much of her writings were religious, and and she wrote forty-two poems dedicated to the temples of Sumer.  Enheduana began to execute more articles of writing to Inanna, the moon goddess, although she was technically a priestess of the moon god, Nanna, and wrote a long piece of poetry to her, which may have been chanted or sung in Inanna's honor.  Enheduana's writings had a lot of influence, and sooner or later, Inanna was transformed into the highest goddess of Sumer.  Although the priestess wrote multiple items showing that she was religious, she also wrote about herself and politics.  She produced a story about how the city-states her father, King Sargon, had ruled had united to fight against him, and had placed siege upon Akkad until the King beat them back, and taught them who was in control.  There have been 50 tablets with the exact same poem writing by Enheduana on them, which proves that her writing was extremely popular back then. 

A Writing Tablet Used Before Paper

          Enheduana held the post of high priestess to Nanna for almost twenty-five years, until one of her nephews claimed the throne.  Although she'd had years of experience and was very popular with the Akkadian people, Enheduana was removed from her post as priestess.  Her nephew fired her, and possibly exiled her to the desert, in order to give his daughter the honored role.  Although she eventually lost her position, Enheduana was a very important person.  She is the first individually known writer, and anyone who knows anything about history knows her name.  On the other hand, her king nephew is hardly known by at all. 

Questions:
1.)  What did books look like during the time that Enheduana was writing?  How were these books written?
          In Enheduana's time, books looked like carved clay.  They were molded tablets, with writing chiseled into them by scribes with hardened reeds called styluses.  These tablets were much more durable than paper, which accounted for the fact that so many of them were discovered by archaeologists.

2.)  Where did Enheduana and her family live?  What did her father do?
          Enheduana and her family originally resided in a palace at the city-state Akkad.  Her father was King Sargon, and he ruled over Ur, Akkad, and Kish; uniting them.  King Sargon mysteriously rose to power from being a cupbearer for the king of Kish to powerful King of many city-states. 

3.)  What was Enheduana's job?  List three of her duties.  How did she lose her job?
          Enheduana's job was high priestess of the moon god, Nanna.  She was required to keep the gods happy in order to bring good fortune to her city by praying, making sacrifices, completing sacred rituals, and burning aromatic incense for the gods to enjoy.

4.) The author says that Enheduana's poems were so popular that they were like bestsellers today.  What evidence does she use to support this claim?
          The author uses the fact that archaeologists have found over fifty clay tablets with the same poem written by Enheduana on them as evidence that they were so popular they were similar to bestsellers today.

5.)  Enheduana's writings are hymns of praise, but they also tell us about the times she lived in.  Describe one "current event" that Enheduana wrote about.
          One of the "current events" that Enheduana wrote about pictured her father fighting against his revolting people.  Apparently, a few city-states that Sargon controlled united to rebel against him, and placed siege on Akkad as well as removing the goddess Inanna from her shrines and temples.  Sargon was eventually able to suffocate the rebellion, and he showed the traitors that Inanna was "all-powerful."

How People Today Change the Environment

          People nowadays change the environment in a few ways, and for different reasons.  I think that some of the main things we do is clear forests, pollute the air, and pollute the sea .  People also change the environment when they snorkel by touching coral and accidentally killing it, when hikers climb up mountains, and people hunt animals such as deer. 
          The reason why we clear forests is because we need space to put our homes, buildings, and factories.  We also need to be able to plant crops and raise livestock.  When we don't have enough room to do these things, we just cut down trees, and make more.  This is changing the environment, because instead of forests, there is either concrete, crops, or animals.  This affects the earth by depleting our one source of oxygen, getting rid of things that absorb CO2, ruining animal habitats, and therefore, killing them.
          We pollute the air all the time.  We do it when we turn on the lights, we do it when we go to an amusement park, we do it when we drive cars, take the bus, or fly on a plane.  To create the energy to turn on lights and make running water, something needs to be burned.  When that substance is burned up, it creates pollution.  When we drive cars, we're burning either gas or diesel to fuel them, and that makes more pollution.  It takes a lot of energy to get an amusement park running, and when we go, we use just a bit of that energy, and put more toxins into the air.  When we take the bus, or fly a plane, we burn fuel and release even more pollution into the atmosphere.  This changes the environment by adjusting the balance of different gasses in the air.  This then contributes to Global Warming, and that can cause drastic changes in the environment.
          People pollute the sea by causing oil spills, and dumping trash into it.  When we mine for oil in the ocean, sometimes we can cause oil spills.  This means that the oil doesn't go up the pipe and into the boat - it goes straight into the ocean, and it's difficult to stop.  This  
oil can kill any animals that it covers, and it blocks the sunlight so underwater plants can't live.  It could clog a fish's gills, or coat a bird's wing and prevent it from flying.  When we dump trash into the ocean, we give sea animals what they think is food, but what can really be lethal, and if when they eat it, they could choke or get poisoned.  If too many plant-eating animals die from eating human garbage, too much kelp and sea grass would grow, which would result in a mass use of oxygen when they die, and other animals could be spared of their full share.  That might kill them.
          When we snorkel over coral reefs, people can accidentally touch or walk on them.  Coral is actually a very fragile, living creature, and if you touch it, it might break.  You could cause innumerable damage to a reef by walking on it, and in doing so ruin fish habitats and hunting areas for predators.
               If someone is hiking up a mountain, sees a pretty flower, and then picks it, he/she is changing the environment.  If they step off the path or sit on some grass, they are changing the environment.  If they pick some blueberries, they are changing the environment.  Picking a flower deprives some roots of its stem, a bee of its pollen, and a tiny spider of its home.  If you step off the path and crush some grass, you could very well be squishing small insects and arachnids as well.  You are breaking the grass, and changing the environment.  When you pick berries, you might drop some, and they fall, and then later, since you dropped them in the right place, they might grow into more berry bushes, creating brand new places for bugs to hide and birds to eat. 
          Some people hunt animals such as deer and turkey in Tennessee, where I once lived.  That can be good, because it helps control population sizes.  If deer or turkey overpopulate, they could eat too much grass or seeds.  That deprives other animals of their food, and they die.  Then, since there isn't enough food for all the deer, or all the turkey, some of them die, too.  It could cause a whole bunch of animals to die if one species begins to dominate over all the other species. 
          There are many different ways that humans change the environment today.  We pollute the air, the sea,  we kill coral, we destroy animal habitats, we make it possible for plants to grow, clear land, and control the growth of animal species.  Sometimes, changing the environment is good, but sometimes, it can be bad.


From earliest times, people have changed their environments. How have people
    today changed their environment. Discuss both the good and the bad.        

Why is Catal Huyuk an Important Archaeological Find?

          There are a couple different reasons why Catal Huyuk is an important archaeological find.  It is helps give an insight to the religion of people in the Neolithic age, it explains more about the daily life back then (trading, tools, houses, etc.), and it helps explain the needs other villages near bye might have had.
         Digging up Catal Huyuk taught archaeologists a lot about the daily life of humans living in the Neolithic Age.  The houses were fashioned out of mud bricks, with the only openings for entering and leaving in the roofs.  To get from place to place, you would simply walk over your neighbors' roofs.  The Neolithic homes were varied in height, so when you had to climb or jump on a roof, there would be ladders for your convenience.  The average house would have two rooms - a big one and a small one.  The smaller room would be as a storage place for the surplus food or wares, and the larger one was used as the kitchen and the living quarters.  The furniture was built-in, and the houses contained nothing but wooden platforms extending from the walls, a hearth, and a clay oven.  The platforms once functioned as tables, benches, and beds.  Smoke from the hearths would rise up and exit out of the door in the ceiling.
         Evidence has been found that indicates wheat was the main food crop grown in Catal Huyuk, cattle was domesticated by the people, and deer, bears, and wolves were hunted.  People also grew peas, and gathered crab apples, juniper berries, and nuts.  Excess food or surplus food could have been used for trading.
          The remains of Catal Huyuk also shows that tools were made there.  Grinding tools were created by chipping pieces of larger stones, needles, beads, hairpins, and fish hooks were fashioned out of bone, cloth was woven out of wool, baskets were made, leather was cut into pouches, and wooden bowls/boxes with lids were made.  These tools helped make the creation of clothes, transporting items, fishing, and storage much more easy and convenient. 
          According to archaeologists, the main item of trade in Catal Huyuk was obsidian - a shiny black igneous stone formed by old volcano lava.  It was valued by everyone, including people in neighboring villages, because of its sharpness when chipped to a point.  The people of Catal Huyuk had a long trek over 120 miles long in order to acquire the obsidian, but it turned out to be worth it.  Catal Huyuk became one of the major trading centers of its area.  In some cases, they were able to trade surplus food, clothing, or tools for obsidian from villages closer to the volcanoes that had better access than Catal Huyuk, shape that obsidian into arrowheads or mirrors, and trade them for higher prices later, too.  Based on the success Catal Huyuk had in trading obsidian, archaeologists can assume that obsidian was a valuable rock back in the Neolithic Age.
         There were a lot of shrines found in Catal Huyuk, which helps explain the beliefs these people had.  Bull horns covered the walls, which obviously meant that they thought those were valuable.  Sculptures of leopards, rams, and bulls were also plainly visible on platforms in the shrines, and there were color paintings there, too.  Archaeologists believe that these sculptures, paintings, and horns were connected special/important events in the lives of Neolithic people, and since there were so many shrines in Catal Huyuk, it is believed that this town was once a major religious center where people from many different villages came to worship.
          Old bones discovered under platforms thought to be used for benches, tables, and beds, have helped archaeologists figure out what Neolithic people in Catal Huyuk did to the dead.  Relatives that had passed away were buried under the platforms sticking out of the wall.  This could mean that people back then thought that the dead were still a part of the household.
          Catal Huyuk is a very important discovery by archaeologists, because it gives us so many hints about life in the Neolithic Age - it tells us about trading habits, burial practices, possible religion, tools used, clothes made, and much more.