the priestesses serving during the Ur III period, the long cumbersome titles were
dropped in favour of the short en-dNanna. The widespread use of the generic term en
may have been one vehicle in the centralisation and unification of the ecclesiastical
terminology that most likely began in the Old Akkadian period, perhaps under Nara ̄m-
Sîn. However, this title never achieved uniformity throughout the land.
The earliest hint of a female officiant in the cult of Nanna might be found in the
colophon of an archaic cultic calendar.^22 This illuminating text is an account of textiles
from Uruk distributed at various festivals, including the ezen dInana-h
̆úd‘Festival of
the Morning Inana’ and the NAGARb ENaNANNAa ‘Bulug 4 – festival(?)’ for ‘Lord
Nanna’. The colophon seems to relate the cultic festival(s) (EZENb) in which a human
en (ENa), probably the ruler of Uruk, participated in the house of the woman
(ZATU 737 xSAL) either of the god Nanna (AN URI 3 ) or in the city of Ur and a person
Digˆir-dùgwas the responsible official.
Slightly later written documentation from the archaic period in Ur provides a few
references to the role and position of the zirru-priestess. One of these few references
occurs in an early archaic administrative text from Ur which contains the con-
catenation of lugal, zirruand the city of Ur (UET 29 ). It seems to refer to a festival in
which they may have acted in concert. Despite its fragmentary state, another text
might shed some light on the importance of the zirruin the Early Dynastic period
(UET 2 348). It seems to be a record of outlays of an unknown item to/from high
dignitaries beginning with the en, possibly that of Uruk, followed by a couple of
ensi(k)s, (written PA.SI), and an official of Ur. Col. ii records an event ‘when the en
.. .’ and the summary refers to distributions (ba) to the temple (èsˇ) as the destination
of the outlays, the house of the lugalof Ur possibly as the distributing institution and
in the last line, the zirru-priestess. The writing SAL MASˇNANNAa ZIa for zirruhas
puzzled scholars who expect SAL.(NUNUZ).ZI.NANNA. I would tentatively suggest
that the MASˇis a laconic writing of the later formula for the selection of the en-
priestess: MASˇ-e ì-pà‘chosen by means of (the omens taken from the entrails of ) a
goat’. Consequently, I would explain this text as relating to the events surrounding the
selection of the zirru-priestess and the attendance of the international dignitaries at
that momentous occasion.
The most prominent holders of the office of zirru-priestess, both in image and in
written sources, were the following three princesses:
- The first known holder of the office was Enh
̆
eduana (En-h
̆é-du 7 – an-na‘En,
Ornament of the heavens’), daughter of King Sargon of Akkade, founder of the
Sargonic empire, c. 2300 BC. Through her poetic works and her likeness depicted on
a white alabaster plaque overseeing a ceremony of libation before a dais, the person
of Enh
̆eduana comes alive (Figure 12. 1 ).
2. The tenth holder of the office was Enanatuma (En-an-na-túm-ma‘En, befitting for
the heavens), daughter of Isˇme-Dagan of Isin, a city-state in the central area of the
Mesopotamian plain near Nippur, c. 1940 BC. A diorite statuette of Enanatuma
(Figure 12. 2 ) was found in the Temple of Ningal, while her brick inscriptions, her
building dedications and various administrative texts relating to her have also come
to light.
3. The thirteenth holder of the office was Enanedu (En-an-e-du 7 ‘En, made suitable
by the heavens’), daughter of Kudur-mabuk, sister of the last two kings of Larsa,
–– The ministering clergy ––