EVE Fiction

Part 1: Evidence for an Enheduanni-Enheduanna link

So, I’d like to confess something: when delving into EVE lore I flubbed the spelling of Enheduanni. I’m guessing I probably wasn’t the first, nor will I likely be the last, but when I mismashed my keyboard the search results returned, instead, the name Enheduanna. “Well, now that bears a striking resemblance to what I’m searching for but I clearly botched it. Wonder who/what/where Enheduanna is.” A similarity in spelling alone could be entirely coincidental, particularly if the names are using roots I’m unfamiliar with (anyone with expertise please feel free to chime in!). However, two things made me more than a bit curious: 1) authors and other artists are frequently known to take their inspiration from history and/or their environment and 2) Enheduanni seems like a moderate-to-difficult combination to stumble upon.

I also find it intriguing that the link is to an incredibly early author/poet, as to the EVE universe the Enheduanni are in a similar historical position. We know little of their culture, mythos, etc., except relices and temples we found throughout space; if you haven’t check the Wiki-link yet, Enheduanna was also a high princess and priestess in Sumeria, one of Earth’s earliest recorded civilizations. The combination made her a potent political and religious leader. Hrm. Continuing the potential life-story similarities, during the reign of her brother she becomes embroiled in political turmoil political turmoil and cast out, though eventually she is reinstated to her position and later becomes perceived as semi-divine. This matches some of the theories regarding what was thought to occur with the Enheduanni, namely, at one point they coexisted/were part of Jovian society, were exiled/cast out/ trapped (in Anoixis or otherwise?), and are seeking to come back/escape their prison, of whatever form that may take. I think we already knew we were in trouble, but if they’re also deific...ouch.

For me, however, it was the similarity between Inana B and C and the Prophecy of Macaper that made my skin goosebump. Quick reference time for the Seven Events of the Apolocalypse:
1) “cosmetic kiss of the comets”
2) rains lasting weeks, a great flood
3) “roaring stone that silences the world”
4) “appetite of nothing expands over the world”
5) “the little brother makes the final sorrowful steps home; he is not welcome”
6) “what was many now becomes one when one becomes four”
7) “return of the dark light from the heart of the mother”

On lines 99-108 of Inana C you’ll see that the goddess Inana in Enheduanna’s poem is described as riding on the back of “seven great beasts as she comes forth from heaven.” Let’s see how many of the actual events we can match between the two: While 60-72 of Inana C talk about pulverizing the divine plans of heaven and earth, this is the one I find hardest to match, likely in part due to the lack of knowledge about comets in ancient Sumeria ;) Still, if comets are celestial bodies (akin to gods/deities) there are some potential links. Inana B also talks about divine powers, as well as the destroyer of foreign lands (which technically comets are foreign bodies in our solar systems).

1-12 of Inana B, 18-28 and 29-38 of Inana C, all talk about Inana’s wrath as “a devastating flood which no one can withstand. A great watercourse, ......, she abases those whom she despises.” Lots of links with that one.

What’s interesting about the third is that Inana actually goes toe to toe with a mountain (I kid you not), when it refuses to acknowledge her supremacy (Inana and Ebih, I haven’t linked that one, but a short version is Inana C 109-114). But I would say Inana B, lines 20-33 are closer; “at your battle cry, my lady, the foreign lands lie low.” What’s even more intriguing is “When humanity comes before you in awed silence at the terrifying radiance and tempest, you grasp the most terrible of all the divine powers.”

The “appetite of nothing expands over the world” I believe is a reference to the dragon’s venom Inana deposits on foreign lands, that leaves all vegetation dead and unable to grow. In the hymn, it’s also tied back to Inana roaring, so there’s an additional tie, there. Between the dragon’s venom, “raining blazing fire down upon the land” and “Whoever eats ...... Inana's food and milk of death will not last” (Inana C) I think we have some appetite candidates. Again, I think we have some options on interpretation here.

Inana B has a section (42-59) that at the ends talks about a wife shuns her husband after Inana’s triumph. It could also refer to Enheduanna’s story as opposed to Inana’s; while she is a sister, not a brother, she was banished from her home. Ugh. By far the toughest passage to find anything to connect to, I couldn’t find anything directly related to this, unless you go off into Jungian psychology, which others have discussed in relation to the EVE universe already. There’s at least one scholar who relates Enheduanna to that philosophy (as a much earlier version) and thus the one becomes four could still apply Jungian style, but I’d still peg this as tenuous.

Beyond goddesses being referred to as mothers (and many references to divine wombs, etc.), we have 49-59 and 174-181 of Inana C: “On the wide and silent plain, darkening the bright daylight, she turns midday into darkness. People look upon each other in anger, they look for combat.” and “At your anger what is bright darkens; you turn midday into darkness. When the time had come you destroyed the place you had in your thoughts, you made the place tremble.”

I realize that I’ve based all of this off of some very very old poems and hymns, and that some of these interpretations and connections are hazy. Thanks for sticking with it so far; and hopefully part 2 will stir some thoughts as to how this all relates to EVE.

This is all interesting stuff! I was not familiar with this historical figure at all.

Thanks for writing it up.