NOTE1 Although Sargon is named the mut“husband” of Inanna in an inscription, anomalies in the
Akkadian period indicate a significant deviation from earlier religious practice, possibly because
Akkadian monarchs were often absent from southern Mesopotamia or because they disdained
Sumerian conventions. A tendency toward the latter is elsewhere indicated by the paucity of
priestly titles and allusions to providing for the welfare of the land in royal Akkadian inscriptions.
In common with the Ur plaque, the libator on the Disk of Enheduanna is naked. The closest
figure to the libator, rendered in profile, is identified as Enheduanna on the basis of costume and
an inscription. Size-rank hierarchy and centrality position Enheduanna as the dominant figure
(Winter 1987 b: 921 – 293 ) in contrast to the similarly garbed priestess on the Ur plaque (Figure
11. 2 ), who is depicted frontally and who is smaller than the libator. If the naked libator on the
Disk of Enheduanna is Sargon, it is odd for his daughter to be portrayed in the more important
position, even on a self-commissioned artifact. These anomalies suggest that Enheduanna differs
in some fundamental respect from her predecessors, possibly further implying that someone other
than the ruler performed the Sacred Marriage ceremony during her tenure. A libation of this type
on an unprovenanced seal (Orthmann 1975 : pl. 135 H), dated to the Akkadian period on stylistic
criteria, depicts a female libator in conventional feminine dress before a seated armed Inanna.
In common with the Disk of Enheduanna, the biconical vase on Seal 135 H lacks a palm, but the
libator’s headdress, fringed robe, and pourer resemble Neo-Sumerian exemplars. We have no
information as to her identity, but the evidence suggests an unknown female monarch or further
indication that the Sacred Marriage was delegated to someone other than the ruler in the
Akkadian period.
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–– Kathleen McCaffrey ––