TEMPLE OF INANNA's video: The Exaltation of Inanna - Ancient Sumerian hymn

“The Exaltation of Inanna” is an ancient Sumerian hymn written by Enheduanna, High Priestess of Inanna in the city of Ur, and the daughter of Sargon The Great. This video presents the audio of a song of which the lyrics present the first twelve lines of the Exaltation, sung in Sumerian by Peter Pringle, and accompanied by a scale replica of the remarkable Gold Lyre of Ur, discovered in the 1920s by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley. Enheduanna was born more than 4,000 years ago, and she is the first named author of a literary work that we know of. The Gold Lyre of Ur, which is played in this song, is a drone instrument whose lowest note is the same as the lowest note on a concert piano keyboard (A-0 or 27.500 Hz). These large Sumerian lyres were not appropriate for playing melodies, and according to ancient Sumerian writers, the sound of them was like the “roaring of bulls”. There are 153 lines in “The Exaltation of Inanna”. This song includes only the first 12 lines (minus the repetition): Lyrics Nin me šara, ud dalla e’a (Lady of the many powers, [of] incoming shining daylight) Munus zid melem guru ki aĝ An, Uraša, (Right/true splendid woman bearing the love of Anu, of Uraš) Nugig ana, suḫgir gal-gal’a (High-class lady of heaven, [with] the greatest diadem) Aga zide ki aĝ namena tum’a ([Who] loves the true fitting headdress of the priesthood) Me umin-bi šu sa dug’a ([Who] its seven MEs seized) Nin-ĝu, me gal-gal’a saĝ kešed-bi zē-mēn (My lady, [the one who] the greatest MEs binding (guarding) you are) Me mue’il, me šu-zu-še muela’ (The MEs you have raised, the MEs you have hung from your hand) Me mue’ur, me gaba-za bitab (The MEs you have collected, the MEs on your chest they are laid across) Ušumgal-gen kure uš baešum (Like a dragon, upon the foreign lands venom you have bestowed) Iškur-gen ki šeg gi’a-za ezina labaešiĝal (Like Iškur roaring at the Earth, plant-life you cause to not exist) Amaru kur-bi-ta ed-ed (A flood from its foreign lands descending) Saĝkal an kia, Inana-bi-mēn (Preeminent of heaven and earth, their Inanna you are)