Earlier this month I attended (virtually) a mathematics conference and focused my attention on sessions that linked math and the arts. One of these was a math-poetry presentation by Sarah Glaz which celebrated Enhuedanna (early Sumerian author -- 23rd century, BCE) "Enheduanna – Princess, Priestess, Poet and Mathematician" and included this wonderfully descriptive poem by Glaz.
Twenty-Eight Lines for the En-Priestess Enheduanna by Sarah Glaz
In the beginning there is no beginning.
Eternity’s dark fingers hold a lantern
casting a glow
over the city-state of Ur,
where the Sumerian princess,
Enheduanna,
high priestess of the Moon God, Nanna,
daughter of King Sargon,
stretches the cord
measuring land and irrigation canals,
tall ziggurats
and massive ramparts.
Her other task is time reckoning,
Nanna dictates the calendar
expecting priests
to iron out the details.
She measures the heavens
to keep his lunar months
in sync with the four seasons,
and to exalt the pantheon of gods
and let her heart
be at peace,
conceives the words.
Poet and mathematician —
the first
to sign her own work:
The compiler of this tablet, Enheduanna.
My lord, that which has been created [here]
no one has created [before].
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