Translating Change: The Bilingual Journey of Enheduana's Hymn to Inana

Among the oldest known translations of a literary work is a series of partial Akkadian renditions of the Sumerian poem Hymn to Inana. This stunning paean to the goddess Inana was attributed to the high priestess Enheduana, the first known author in literary history, who lived in the twenty-third century BCE. The talk presents the historical background and cultural context for these translations, discusses selected choices by the translators and their possible rationale, and surveys a number of other bilingual engagements with the Hymn. Since all these bilingual engagements focus on a section of the Hymn that lists Inana’s powers of transformations, I end by suggesting that the ancient scribes may have conceived of their work as a celebration of the goddess of change whose hymn they were translating.

Program in Translation and Intercultural Communications | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies

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