Who was the world's first author? - Soraya Field Fiorio

Reviewer: Thomas Tam

4,300 years ago in ancient Sumer,

4,300 年前，喺古代蘇美爾

the most powerful person in the city of Ur was banished to wander the vast desert.

烏爾城中權力最大嘅人 被放逐到茫茫嘅荒漠中

Her name was Enheduanna.

佢係月神嘅大祭司 Enheduanna

She was the high priestess of the moon god and history’s first known author.

歷史上已知嘅第一位作家

By the time of her exile, she had written 42 hymns and three epic poems—

喺流放嗰陣，佢已經寫咗 42 首讚美詩同 3 首史詩——

and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her.

但蘇美爾人對佢嘅作品也無從知道

Enheduanna lived 1,700 years before Sappho,

佢比 Sappho 早咗 1,700 年

1,500 years before Homer,

比 Homer 早 1,500 年

and about 500 years before the biblical patriarch Abraham.

大約比聖經嘅祖父 Abraham 早咗 500 年

佢出生喺美索不達米亞 喺底格里斯河同幼發拉底河之間

She was born in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,

and the birthplace of the first cities and high cultures.

亦都係第一批高度文明城市嘅發源地

Her father was King Sargon the Great, history’s first empire builder,

Sargon 大帝係佢嘅父親 歷史上第一個建立帝國嘅人

who conquered the independent city-states of Mesopotamia under a unified banner.

統一咗美索不達米亞眾多嘅獨立城邦

Sargon was a northern Semite who spoke Akkadian,

Sargon 係北方閃米特人 講阿卡德語

and the older Sumerian cities in the south viewed him as a foreign invader.

南部較古老嘅蘇美爾城市 認為佢係異族嘅侵略者

They frequently revolted to regain their independence,

經常策動恢復獨立嘅起義

fracturing his new dynasty.

試圖分裂新王朝

To bridge the gap between cultures,

為咗連結兩種文明

Sargon appointed his only daughter, Enheduanna, as high priestess

佢任命咗唯一嘅女兒 Enheduanna 為大祭司

in the empire’s most important temple.

執掌帝國嘅最重要神殿

喺皇室傳統上女性係擔任神職人員

Female royalty traditionally served religious roles,

and she was educated to read and write in both Sumerian and Akkadian,

Enheduanna 學識閱讀同書寫 蘇美爾語同阿卡德語

and make mathematical calculations.

亦都可以進行數學計算

The world's first writing started in Sumer as a system of accounting,

蘇美爾嘅會計系統 係世界上第一個文字記錄

allowing merchants to communicate over long distances with traders abroad.

先允許本地同國外嘅商人進行遠距離溝通

佢哋有系統噉保存咗 記錄象形圖像嘅文字

Their pictogram system of record keeping developed into a script

about 300 years before Enheduanna’s birth.

大約喺 Enheduanna 出生前 300 年

This early writing style, called cuneiform,

呢種早期書寫風格 叫做楔形文字

was written with a reed stylus pressed into soft clay to make wedge-shaped marks.

係用蘆葦筆寫喺軟粘土上 形成楔形標記

But until Enheduanna,

但 Enheduanna 以前

this writing mostly took the form of record keeping and transcription,

呢種寫作大多采取保存記錄同轉錄嘅形式

而唔係屬於個別作家嘅原創作品

rather than original works attributable to individual writers.

Enheduanna’s Ur was a city of 34,000 people with narrow streets,

烏爾係一座擁有 34,000 人嘅城市 嗰度街道好狹窄

multi-storied brick homes, granaries, and irrigation.

有多層磚房、糧倉同灌溉設施

As high priestess, Enheduanna managed grain storage for the city,

Enheduanna 係高級女祭司 管理城市嘅儲存糧食

oversaw hundreds of temple workers, interpreted sacred dreams,

監督數百名神廟人員 同解釋神聖嘅夢境

and presided over the monthly new moon festival

同時主持每月嘅新月節

and rituals celebrating the equinoxes.

同慶祝春分同秋分嘅習俗儀式

Enheduanna 著手融合 古老嘅蘇美爾文化

Enheduanna set about unifying the older Sumerian culture

with the newer Akkadian civilization.

同新興嘅阿卡達文明

To accomplish this, she wrote 42 religious hymns

為此，佢糅合兩邊嘅神話

that combined both mythologies.

寫咗 42 首宗教讚美詩

Each Mesopotamian city was ruled by a patron deity,

俾每位美索不達米亞城 不同嘅守護神

so her hymns were dedicated to the ruling god of each major city.

所以佢嘅讚美詩 係獻俾各大城市嘅主神

She praised the city’s temple, glorified the god’s attributes,

佢讚美城市嘅神廟， 讚揚神嘅美德

and explained the god’s relationship to other deities within the pantheon.

解釋喺諸神之中神與神之間嘅關係

In her writing, she humanized the once aloof gods—

喺佢嘅筆下人性化咗 以往超然嘅眾神——

now they suffered, fought, loved, and responded to human pleading.

依家佢哋受苦，戰鬥同愛 並回應人類嘅懇求

Enheduanna’s most valuable literary contribution

Enheduanna 喺文學嘅最大貢獻

was the poetry she wrote to Inanna, goddess of war and desire,

就係寫給戰爭同慾望女神 Inanna 嘅詩

the divinely chaotic energy that gives spark to the universe.

激發宇宙神聖而混沌嘅能量

Inanna delighted in all forms of sexual expression

Inanna 悅納各種形式嘅性表達

and was considered so powerful that she transcended gender boundaries,

同時強大到可以跨越性別嘅界限

as did her earthly attendants, who could be prostitutes, eunuchs or cross-dressers.

Inanna 地上嘅跟隨者 可能係妓女、太監或者變裝者

Enheduanna placed Inanna at the top of the pantheon as the most powerful deity.

Enheduanna 將 Inanna 視為眾神之首 為最強大嘅守護神

Her odes to Inanna mark the first time an author writes using the pronoun “I,”

佢對 Inanna 嘅頌歌

標誌著第一次使用代詞「我」做寫作 探索深刻嘅私人感情

and the first time writing is used to explore deep, private emotions.

After the death of Enheduanna’s father, King Sargon,

佢嘅父親 Sargon 國王死後

a general took advantage of the power vacuum and staged a coup.

一個將軍利用權力真空期發動政變

As a powerful member of the ruling family, Enheduanna was a target,

Enheduanna 係統治家族重要成員 係要除去嘅目標

and the general exiled her from Ur.

佢被驅逐出烏爾城

Her nephew, the legendary Sumerian king Naram-Sin,

佢個侄仔，係傳奇嘅蘇美爾王 Naram-Sin

ultimately crushed the uprising and restored his aunt as high priestess.

最終鎮壓咗起義 並恢復佢高級女祭司嘅身份

In total, Enheduanna served as high priestess for 40 years.

Enheduanna 共做咗 40 年嘅高級女祭司

After her death, she became a minor deity,

死後變成咗一個小守護神

and her poetry was copied, studied, and performed throughout the empire

佢嘅詩歌超過五百年 喺整個帝國範圍內

for over 500 years.

一直被抄寫 學習同朗誦

Her poems influenced the Hebrew Old Testament,

影響咗希伯來舊約聖經

the epics of Homer, and Christian hymns.

Homer 史詩同基督教嘅讚美詩

Today, Enheduanna’s legacy still exists,

宜家，Enheduanna 嘅文化遺產

on clay tablets that have stood the test of time.

仍然存在喺抵受住時間考驗嘅泥板上