Previous Post More properly, who was the first author who included their name on their work, "signing it"? The first known, named author, poet, epic-writer, and the first person to attempt to codify theology was... Princess Enheduanna, High Priestess of the Moon Goddess Nanna in Ur, somewhere around 2250BC. She was the daughter of the founder of the Sumerian dynasty, Sargon the Great, and the daughter, sister, and aunt of kings. She was a very smart, very powerful woman, exiled for her politicking then returned to power. She is one of the first women in recorded history whose name is known to us today. She is the first woman in history who is known to have been literate (although the Babylonian goddess Nindaba was the gods' scribe, suggesting that this may have been a common noble female role in that culture). Her surviving works include the epic and autobiographical Exhalation of Inanna, the mythological Inanna and Ebih and the fragmentary Inanna sa-gura and forty-two hymns and poems. It is from Enheduanna that we have a good understanding of Sumerian myth and culture. Enheduanna means "High Priestess, Adornment of the God". She may also be the first person to use literature as a form of PR. The clay tablets on which she wrote her autobiographical appeal to the gods against unfair exile seem to have played some role in her reinstatement. She's also the first named woman of whom there is a verified picture/image: That's her wearing traditional female Sumerian dress, i.e. nothing. The reason I mention all of this is (a) because I think Enheduanna deserves to be better remembered for her amazing legacy as the first known author and (b) I'm 77,145 words into a novel which features her mother as the heroine.

A very interesting little history lesson, and it sounds like a good subject for a novel indeed!