Ennigaldi-Nanna (
Babylonian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
:
''En-nígaldi-Nanna''), also known as Bel-Shalti-Nanna and commonly called just Ennigaldi,
was a princess of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bei ...
and high priestess (''entu'') of
Ur. As the first ''entu'' in six centuries, serving as the "human wife" of the moon-god
Sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
, Ennigaldi held large religious and political power. She is most famous today for founding
a museum in Ur 530 BC. Ennigaldi's museum showcased cataloged and labelled artifacts from the preceding 1,500 years of
Mesopotamian history and is often considered to have been the first museum in world history.
Family
Ennigaldi was a daughter of
Nabonidus, who ruled as
king of Babylon
The king of Babylon (Akkadian: ''šakkanakki Bābili'', later also ''šar Bābili'') was the ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon and its kingdom, Babylonia, which existed as an independent realm from the 19th century BC to its fall ...
from 556 to 539 BC.
She had at least three siblings: the brother
Belshazzar
Belshazzar (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Bēl-šar-uṣur'', meaning "Bel, protect the king"; ''Bēlšaʾṣṣar'') was the son and crown prince of Nabonidus (556–539 BC), the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Through his mother he might h ...
and the sisters Ina-Esagila-risat and Akkabuʾunma. Nabonidus was genealogically unconnected to previous Babylonian kings but he might have been married to a daughter of the previous ruler
Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC), which would make Ennigaldi and her siblings into Nebuchadnezzar's grandchildren. The name of their mother is unknown but she may have been the figure remembered in later tradition under the name
Nitocris.
Nabonidus had great interest in
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
. He conducted extensive excavations, included more allusions to past rulers in his writings than most other kings, and is the earliest known person in history to attempt to chronologically date archaeological artifacts.
Ennigaldi's interest in archaeology and history probably stemmed from her father.
Career
High priestess
In 547 BC,
Nabonidus revived the office of ''entu'' ("high priestess") of Ur, which had been vacant since the time of
Nebuchadnezzar I
Nebuchadnezzar I or Nebuchadrezzar I (), reigned 1121–1100 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 22 years according to the ''Babylonian King List C'', and was the most prominent monarc ...
in the 12th century BC, and named Ennigaldi to this office.
The ''entu'' was devoted to the moon-god
Sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
(known as Nanna in
Sumerian times) and was the highest-ranking priestess in the country, supposedly divinely elected by the god himself and revealed through omens. All known ''entu'' were of royal blood, having been sisters or daughters of kings.
Nabonidus was supposedly inspired to restore the office after a partial
lunar eclipse in 554 BC, which he interpreted as an omen, and the find of a
stele created by Nebuchadnezzar I showing the investiture of that king's daughter as ''entu''. According to Nabonidus, he selected Ennigaldi as ''entu'' only after having learnt through lengthy
divination that she was the choice of Sin.
The name Ennigaldi-Nanna was in all likelihood assumed at this time as her priestess name, since it means "Nanna requests an ''entu''".
As ''entu'', Ennigaldi would have devoted much of her religious time in the evenings to worship of Sin in a small blue room on top of the
Ziggurat of Ur
The Ziggurat (or Great Ziggurat) of Ur ( Sumerian: "Etemenniguru", meaning "temple whose foundation creates aura") is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure ...
.
Her official dwelling was a building called the ''giparu'', located adjacent to the ziggurat. The ''giparu'' had been in ruins for centuries but was rebuilt for Ennigaldi on the orders of Nabonidus.
The most important part of the religious role of the ''entu'' was to serve as the human wife of the god Sin and to perform rites relating to this sacred marriage. What these rites entailed is poorly known. The ''entu'' also had to pray for the life of the king, who served as the living embodiment of Babylonia's prosperity, and had to provide comfort and adornment for the goddess
Ningal
Ningal ( Sumerian: "Great Queen"), also known as Nikkal in Akkadian, was a Mesopotamian goddess of Sumerian origin regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran ...
, Sin's divine consort. The ''entu'' also served as the manager of the considerable estates and wealth belonging to the temple complex of Ur.
In addition to these duties, Ennigaldi also ran, and possibly taught in, a school for aspiring priestesses from upper-class Babylonian families. By the time Ennigaldi became ''entu'', this school had been in continuous operation for more than eight hundred years. The school taught a special women's scribal dialect called ''
Emesal
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
''.
Museum curator
The reign of Ennigaldi's father came to an end when the
Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bei ...
was conquered by
Cyrus the Great of the
Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC. Nabonidus appears to have been allowed to live and retire in peace, perhaps to
Carmania.
The change in government does not appear to have impacted Ennigaldi's position in Ur since she 530 BC
founded a museum containing artifacts from past Mesopotamian civilizations, located about five hundred feet southeast of the ziggurat.
Ennigaldi's museum is often considered the first museum in world history.
Some of the objects on display may have been personally excavated by Ennigaldi and her father.
Most of the artifacts dated to the 20th century BC,
though the collection covered a timespan of about 1,500 years
(c. 2100–600 BC).
Ennigaldi developed a research program around the museum's collection of artifacts
and she was presumably herself responsible for cataloging and labelling the collections. Among the items on display were artifacts that had once belonged to Nebuchadnezzar II,
a ceremonial mace-head, a
Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
boundary stele (''
kudurru''), as well as a statue of
Shulgi
Shulgi ( dŠulgi, formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from c. 2094 – c. 2046 BC (Middle Chronology) or possibly c. 2030 – 1982 BC (Short Chronology). His accomplishme ...
, a famous Sumerian king of Ur (r. 2094–2046 BC), which had been carefully restored to preserve the inscriptions on it.
The museum included clay tablets and cones with inscriptions containing descriptions of the objects (i.e. museum labels) written in three different languages,
including
Sumerian.
The museum was also equipped with tablets listing the objects on display; the earliest known museum catalogs.
The subsequent fate of Ennigaldi is unknown.
She is believed to have been the last occupant of the ''entu'' office. Ennigaldi's museum ceased operations at the latest around 500 BC;
changing climate conditions (including a change in the course of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
river, a drought, and the recession of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
) caused Ur to rapidly decline under Achaemenid rule and rendered the city uninhabited by that time.
Legacy
The ruins of Ennigaldi's museum were discovered by the British archaeologist
Leonard Woolley during excavations of the Ur temple complex in 1925. The neatly arranged objects of various different ages allowed Woolley to quickly identify the site as the remains of a museum.
Ennigaldi is one of 998 historically impactful women memorialized in the artwork ''
The Dinner Party
''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triang ...
'' by
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
.
Notes
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References
6th-century BC clergy
6th-century BC women
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Babylonian women
Ancient priestesses
Nabonidus
Sumerian people
Ancient princesses
6th-century BC people
Chaldean dynasty