Warad-Sîn and Rı ̄m-Sîn, from 1826 BC. Installed in the eighth year of the reign of
Warad-Sîn, she has left us both monumental inscriptions and administrative
documents: a literary account of her investiture, a building inscription, and seal.Due to the paucity of data, the following discussion will rely on the evidence provided
by these priestesses covering the diachronic span of 500 years ( 2300 – 1800 BC) in order
to define their ritual functions. There are two aspects to the role of the zirru/en-priestess
in ritual – those that she undergoes to become an enand those that she performs as en.
In the ordination ritual, as in any rite of passage, each phase has its typical symbolic
expressions. The first phase is the separation from the profane world after the selection
of the en-priestess through divination. Frequent mention is made of rites of preparation
such as purifications and ablutions. After describing her divine election from birth for
the office of the enand her physical purity, an essential requirement for the priesthood,
the en-priestess Enanedu alludes to some rite she performed as princess in front of the
palace as she leaves it:
–– The ministering clergy ––Figure 12.2
Statuette of Enanatuma,
from Gipar at Ur (U. 6352 )
(courtesy of the Penn
Museum, University of
Pennsylvania, CBS 16229 )