Humans have always been curious creatures; we can log and record our history. Art, culture, and politics have always been intertwined. We can see this play out in any museum. History has a way of creeping back further on the timeline than we know. Ideas and concepts that we think are more modern are not. The first museum in recorded history was in Ancient Mesopotamia, a cultural and historical neighbor to Ancient Egypt. While King Tut was discovered in the 1920s and is much more famous, let's look at the findings of English archaeologist Leonard Woolley.

Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Sir Charles Leonard Woolley was a British archaeologist born in London in 1880. He was known for translating and making archaeological discoveries in Egypt and Mesopotamia. He wrote books and spoke with the press about his findings in his lifetime. What Woolley found was the work of a much earlier archaeologist, a woman named Ennigaldi-Nanna. However, he was known for many other findings during his time. What did the role of the poet, curator, and land seller mean to the ancient people? Let's see how three women had a hand in the world’s first museum. From the items in it to the way it was organized, to the contracts on which land would be sold, and the items it housed.

WHY IS THE LOCATION IMPORTANT?

Many people all over the world know where Egypt is, but less so the location of ancient Mesopotamia. Sabatino Moscati's book The Face of the Ancient Orient details Mesopotamian civilization and provides pertinent information about its location. Regarding one of its rulers, Moscati summarizes:

The ability to unify and connect much of the Ancient Near East encompassed many places under Sargon, as noted by Moscati below.

“…The ‘Ancient Orient’ has come, by a widely accepted scholarly convention, to mean Near East.” Moscati continues by saying… ‘Mediterranean East’; this separated it from the cultures of India and even China, which have different centers of gravity and developed in substantial independence…Passing from West to East, the ancient Oriental world includes Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran.”

Ancient Communication Methods

The main way of writing was in wet clay with a reed stylus. The language was a script called cuneiform, a series of wedges. Records and images are impressed into these, both clay and stone.

“Many institutions have these early seals where the role of women has been commemorated and preserved, but they’re mostly overlooked,” Babcock said. “I thought we should celebrate them.”- She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC (October 15, 2022 through February 19, 2023) Sidney Babcock is a man who has accomplished much in his life. Sidney Babcock is the Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head of Ancient Near Eastern Seals and Tablets at the Morgan Library and Museum. He translated the sandstone scraper and chisel for us to understand.

Woman Dressed as Queen Paubi: Newspaper Article St. Louis Dispatch

WHO SET UP THIS MUSEUM?

While the answer to who set up the museum is mostly one person, there is a predecessor and yet another woman of importance. Three women are essential for this event to take place.

1. Enheduanna—this could be her name or just a title. She lived one thousand years before Ennigaldi-Nanna. She was the world’s first poet. She was also a priestess of Inanna, the Goddess of love and war; she had political connections and influence through her father. She was also important in religious life. She was most known for her poems and for being the world’s first author.

2. Ennigaldi-Nanna—the first curator we know of—had other skills and special access to places. She collected items for the museum and would go on excavations with her father. The tags in the Ancient Museum exhibition were labeled in three different languages, one of which was Cuneiform.

3. KA-GIR-gal- she is the woman with the role of one who sold the land. She was listed as a co-seller, not in this particular instance, but she represents the power women had in commerce. We will go over each of them in detail as much as possible. Her information is brief but important. Museums need land on which to be built, though she is listed as a house co-seller, proving the concept of women's se

The first woman is Enheduanna, the first record writer in history. She, through a scribe or herself, signed her own written work and attributed it to herself as I, Enheduanna. She was a poet and wrote about the Goddess Inanna one thousand years before Ennigaldi-Nanna, the first curator ever got to work. Enheduanna poems were used to train scribes. So her work could have been used in the exhibition itself. It just may or may not have survived. Poems about the Goddess Inanna were included in the collection, and Sumerian King Shulgi was mentioned. More on him later. This shows that women had status in Ancient Mesopotamia and left an impact on the world around them.

The second most important woman, Ennigaldi-Nanna, acted as the first curator and is the main focus of who started the first museum. It was considered typical at the time for people to want to preserve history. (source the conversation)

“We don’t have any texts from her own time, but Enheduanna’s work was considered so important that it was one of the 10 works that were taught in all scribal schools for hundreds of years after her lifetime,” Babcock said. “So her writings survived in copies.”

But Babcock believes that Enheduanna wasn’t unique and that there is evidence of more widespread female literacy in Mesopotamia.”

Boundary Marker: Item in the ancient exhibit

WHAT KIND OF ITEMS WOULD BE IN THIS MUSEUM? HOW DID ARCHOLOGISTS KNOW WHAT WAS THERE?

The following information comes from My Modern Met.com. It talks about Woolley's findings and how well Ennigaldi-Nanna cataloged things.

“This museum contained artifacts excavated by Nabonidus (her father) and some that Nebuchadnezzar II collected. They included a ceremonial mace head, a Kassite boundary marker called a kudurru, and part of a statue of the Sumerian king Shulgi, among many other objects, the oldest of which dated to around the 20th century BCE. Ennigaldi-Nanna was believed to have curated all of the artifacts and assigned labels to the collections. In fact, these ancient “museum labels” were inscribed onto clay cylinders in three different languages, one of which was Sumerian. There was even an early form of museum catalogs that were inscribed on tablets.” Ennigaldi-Nanna's father, Nabonidus, was a keen archeologist who conducted several excavations in Mesopotamia, some of which were accompanied by Ennigaldi-Nanna herself.

So she was much more than just a curator; she had hands-on archaeological experience with her dad, according to my modern met article, Who Was Ennigaldi-Nanna? Learn About the Woman Who Founded the World’s First Museum by Margherita Cole, written in 2023. Imagine what would have gone through Woolley and his team's minds. Finding things that are already labeled and organized? This must have been a shock once they pieced it all together in their minds.

So Ennigaldi-Nanna would have been able to unearth artifacts and read the script on them if, as stated, she had three languages on the exhibit pieces. “Ennigaldi-Nanna's father Nabonidus was a keen archeologist who conducted several excavations in Mesopotamia, some of which were accompanied by Ennigaldi-Nanna herself. So this means that Woolley was an archaeologist on the trail of another arachnologist, the great woman herself.

After the Achaemenid Empire conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire, effectively ending Nabonidus's reign, Ennigaldi-Nanna retained an essential position in Ur. Around 530 BCE, she founded a museum in an ancient building called E-Gig-Par, where she also had living quarters.” Margherita Cole. So, she lived in or very near the museum in Ur. She would have labeled the items herself.

This shows her dedication to the care and keeping of these crucial objects. So, what do a mace head, a boundary marker, and a statue have in common? Human achievement and the telling of stories. These artifacts would have shown this area's rich and complex political history. Mesopotamia was a place of war and frequent invasions. The mace head could serve as a warning for intruders and was a reminder of the political strife of the time. This could have been used during parades and as a sign to bolster soldiers and the pride of the city they fought for.

My sources do not list an image of the exact mace head, but given its ceremonial nature, it would most likely be ornate. For example, it could have essential leaders engraved on it or words that say something important. As an example of our modern-day hubris, a mace head found in the 1930s looks like a modern-day fidget spinner, but it is being updated with more accurate labels in Chicago.

The boundary marker was a way to stake territory and acted as a signpost for travelers. It was essential to be able to identify land that was owned. This served as a social reminder for people passing through what local god to pray to and how to behave in the city. Houses came equipped with makers, as we will soon see.

The statue would have shown the individual's importance, a testament to his power. It would be like the portrait of an American president today—someone who is a leader and makes many decisions about the people he leads. Let’s learn more about this man in brief.

“Shulgi (also known as Culgi, Dungi, and Sulgi) inherited a stable kingdom after his father was killed in battle with the Gutians and proceeded to build upon his father's legacy to raise Sumer to great cultural heights.” -- Mark, Joshua.

Let’s look at Shulgi's accomplishments and why he had this statue of him, which is worth a museum in Mesopotamia. He had a good foundation to build upon, as his father, Ur-Nammu, founded UR’s third dynasty. This allowed Shulgi to pour money and resources into the scribal school to increase literacy. He was literate and knew the advantages of such a skill. He was also said to be a musician. Shulgi also took an interest in the infrastructure of Ur, repairing and improving roads and creating the first roadside inns. Like any politician, he did embellish some of his tales and accomplishments. One example was running. “Shulgi's run spread his fame across the land, as he had hoped it would, and distinguished his reign dramatically from his father's.” So, this run of 100 miles had put him in the history books to separate him from his father’s legacy. Though this was well documented, this running had him stand out and added to his political legacy.

Museums need land on which to be built.

What evidence was left of real estate agents in the past? Sidney Babcock translated a stone scraper and chisel with images. Though the items are not a land sale peg (which was like a house deed), they do depict the woman in question, KA-GIR-gal.

WHO MIGHT HAVE sold Ennigaldi-Nanna's land for her museum? A woman much like KA-GIR-gal. Her name is similar to that of ERISHKIGAL: Inanna’s older sister, the Goddess of the Underworld. So I wonder if the words earth or land make an appearance here. A scribe would have recorded this event as it shows up on the land peg. KA-GIR-gal name was listed on a house peg. An ancient way of noting the sale of a house, like a deed today. This wall peg is the only trace that I can find of this woman’s impact on business in antiquity, other than the stone scraper and chisel. Her name survives as a line of fashion today outside of the museum sphere, which I have yet to relocate. The Lamassu T-Shirt from mesutopia.com is just one example of ancient art inspiring modern day fashion.

This speech, in conclusion, highlights the importance of women, their contributions to the world, and what they can achieve with an education. It is not just the story of one woman but three, and how each of their works is seen through time after they are rediscovered and allowed to shine. Enheduanna was the first recorded poet in history and the first female poet of that period. Her work was used to teach scribes how to write. Her poems were of religious devotion and praised the complex duality of Inanna, the goddess of love and war. Enheduanna also worked in a temple and was an essential figure in her community, creatively and religiously.

Ennigaldi-Nanna, the curator/ archeologist, helped shape the future by saving the past. Land needs to be sold before a museum can be built, so who are the companies involved in the land sale? The artist comes in and fills the space with art.

For example, many modern-day women, be they of a different race or religion, contribute to our society. For example, does a real estate woman who just finished selling a house know that her modern-day career has such ancient roots? Concepts can be much older than we think. Other female professions, such as hair stylist, nail tech, and makeup creator, have ancient roots, too.

So now comes the call to action. I ask you to visit a museum this month. Either in person or online, and look at the collection. See who one of the curators of a local exhibition is. Go to the gift shop and check out the books. Who wrote and published them? What are some of the subjects? Who used to own the land on which your favorite museum was built? Was it a house museum owned by someone famous? Go out and enjoy the rich legacy of museums and the women from Ancient Mesopotamia who helped to make this possible. Take your family to see a movie at a museum or visit the library. See how the past connects to the present at museums.

Thank You.

_________________________________________________________________________

Writer Thoughts:

This speech started as a project for my Udemy writing class. It was to pick a slide share topic: “Mesopotamia of 530 BC contained the first recorded museum of Ennigaldi-Nanna.” By: Mikus Kins from SlideShare. I expanded it to mention my past article on the female writer of antiquity, Enheduanna. While I had wanted to include the role of a scribe in this speech, that was not possible. I do find the land peg angle to be more interesting.

NOTES AND SOURCES:

Notes:

Here is the full translation of Stone scraper and chisel images from The Morgan Library and Museum in NYC. This is regarding the woman who had the ability to sell land in antiquity.

Transcription:

Sidney Babcock: KA-GÍR-gal: the first woman in history known by name! These two objects, shaped like a scraper and a chisel, bear an inscription mentioning her as a co-seller in a land sale. Even more fascinating is the fact that her name and her image came down to us: she is represented on the scraper with her hands placed before her mouth in a gesture of reverence. Her relationship to the bearded figure standing before her is uncertain, but the object he holds in his hands might have been a "land sale peg." Such pegs were inserted into the wall of a building to proclaim a transaction. The other depicted figures may be preparing a feast to celebrate the recently concluded deal.

As demonstrated by the Stele of Shara-igizi-Abzu as well, also on view here, women were actively involved in the economic life of early cities. The first urban centers of Mesopotamia depended on women's labor and such monuments testify to their role in selling privately owned land in ancient Sumer.

Links and Image Sources:

“Mesopotamia of 530 BC contained the first recorded museum of Ennigaldi-Nanna.” Mikus Kins from slide share

Ennigaldi-Nanna—is one thousand AFTER Enheduanna (who was the world's first poet/writer known by name.)

https://mymodernmet.com/ennigaldi-nanna-founded-the-first-museum-in-the-world/

Mark, Joshua J.. "Shulgi of Ur." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified June 17, 2014. https://www.worldhistory.org/Shulgi_of_Ur/.

https://hyperboloid-lobster-mpph.squarespace.com/config/

FIRST FEMALE WRITER IN HISTORY: WHO WAS EDHUNNAHA ?

Jul 7

Written By Kelly Johnson Post #1 of Edhunnaha and Inanna Series

https://mymodernmet.com/brussels-museums-mental-health-treatment/

https://usaartnews.com/news/an-astonishing-exhibition-shows-how-ancient-mesopotamians-not-only-worshipped-but-respected-women -- endhaunanna line and quote – some images are missing on their site.

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/249/scribes-in-ancient-mesopotamia/