268:. Alhena Gadotti argues that it was meant to familiarize trainee scribes with a tradition of appointing royal daughters to religious positions, which they in same cases were able to retain after the end of their fathers’ reigns. She assumes the copyists were meant to be introduced to the notion of a shared Mesopotamian heritage through the texts they worked with. She notes Uruk was not a major political power at the time of the letter's composition and inclusion in the scribal school curriculum, but due to its long history it was considered culturally significant, similarly to
244:
and letting the city live in peace, but also laments that she was exiled from Durum, where she formerly lived. It is not known to what degree the letter reflects historical events. William W. Hallo argues that it accurately describes the period following the conquest of Durum, and that it was written
174:
located in this city dedicated jointly to
Lugalirra and Meslamtaea named E-Meslam, which might be either an abbreviation of E-Meslam-melamilla ("E-Meslam which bears radiance"), which according to an inscription of her father was dedicated only to the latter of these two gods, or alternatively the
186:, Ninšatapada was exiled, but she was likely restored to her position later on. Nathan Wasserman and Yigal Bloch note that this makes it possible to assume that struggles between Old Babylonian dynasties were limited to the spheres of politics and military, and not religion.
137:, who reigned over this city in the nineteenth century BCE. She was most likely born when he was still young, in the third quarter of said century. Since no information about her grandfather is known, and her father originally served as the governor (
245:
between 1801 and 1799 BCE, after a four or five year period of exile, when the author by own admission reached old age. Dating the letter to around 1800 BCE is also tentatively accepted by
Charles Halton and Saana Svärd.
213:" was authored by Ninšatapada. However, her authorship is not entirely certain, and an alternate proposal is that the letter was composed as propaganda by scribes serving the royal court of Larsa. It was written in
256:
is also known. Furthermore, many of the formulas used in Ninšatapada's composition find parallels in royal inscriptions and date formulas of kings of Larsa, which according to Hallo can be considered an example of
587:
Cavigneaux, Antoine (2000). "A Scholar's
Library in Meturan? With an Edition of the Tablet H 72 (Textes de Tell Haddad VII)". In Abusch, Tzvi; Toorn, Karel van der (eds.).
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argued it is plausible it was her father. The appointment of princesses to similar priestly positions was a tradition going back to the
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217:. It is 58 lines long. Six copies most likely to be dated to the eighteenth century BCE are known, with two coming from
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276:, also well represented in similar text corpora despite no longer being major powers in the Old Babylonian period.
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Comparisons have been made between Ninšatapada's characterization of herself with a similar composition in which
193:, Ninšatapada is one of the two only female historical figures mentioned in the Old Babylonian corpus of
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and four being of unknown provenance. An additional exemplar has been discovered during excavations in
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and servant of Rim-Sîn I. She praises the latter king for sparing the population of conquered
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109:, in which she implores him to restore her to her former position as a high priestess of
753:. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 133. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
817:
771:
171:
170:. She resided in Durum, modern Umm al-Wawiya. A letter attributed to her links her a
139:
751:
The
Amorites: A Political History of Mesopotamia in the Early Second Millennium BCE
701:
Women's
Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Anthology of the Earliest Female Authors
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to restore her to her priestly position. She describes herself as a female scribe (
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The letter is written in first person. It is centered on Ninšatapada's appeal to
162:. It is uncertain which king of Uruk was responsible for her appointment, though
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presents herself as a "righteous sufferer". A comparable letter addressed to
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222:
639:
615:
589:
Mesopotamian Magic: Textual, Historical and
Interpretative Perspectives
591:. Ancient Magic and Divination. Vol. 1. Brill. pp. 251–273.
684:. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 35. Brill.
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218:
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The World's Oldest
Literature. Studies in Sumerian Belles-Lettres
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The letter of Ninšatapada was incorporated in the curriculum of
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113:. It was incorporated into the curriculum of Mesopotamian
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It is assumed that one of the letters belonging to the
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History of the Ancient Near East: Volume II
720:"The Middle East after the Fall of Ur: Isin and Larsa"
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House Most High: the
Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia
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616:"Portraits of the Feminine in Sumerian Literature"
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105:. She is known from a letter addressed to
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626:(2). American Oriental Society: 195–206.
749:Wasserman, Nathan; Bloch, Yigal (2023).
620:Journal of the American Oriental Society
16:Ancient Mesopotamian princess and author
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125:Ninšatapada was a princess from the
143:) of Durum, which was fortified by
732:10.1093/oso/9780190687571.003.0014
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703:. Cambridge University Press.
175:name of a complex of temples.
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178:After Durum was conquered by
657:. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
154:She was the high priestess (
726:. Oxford University Press.
718:Wagensonner, Klaus (2022).
834:
680:Hallo, William W. (2009).
653:George, Andrew R. (1993).
345:Wasserman & Bloch 2023
597:10.1163/9789004496293_018
614:Gadotti, Alhena (2011).
508:Halton & Svärd 2017
378:Halton & Svärd 2017
808:Ancient letter writers
778:19th-century BC clergy
783:19th-century BC women
54:Old Babylonian period
813:Ancient priestesses
798:Ancient women poets
573:, pp. 198–199.
537:, pp. 375–376.
510:, pp. 100–101.
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803:Ancient princesses
97:princess from the
32:high priestess of
793:Babylonian people
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741:978-0-19-068757-1
710:978-1-107-28032-8
691:978-90-474-2727-8
606:978-90-04-49629-3
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207:text corpus
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140:šakkanakkum
129:dynasty of
101:dynasty of
83:Ninšatapada
23:Ninšatapada
772:Categories
645:2023-10-27
535:Hallo 2009
467:Hallo 2009
455:Hallo 2009
431:Hallo 2009
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315:Hallo 2009
300:Hallo 2009
280:References
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191:Enheduanna
160:Meslamtaea
156:nin-dingir
111:Meslamtaea
63:Letter to
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29:Occupation
632:0003-0279
254:Zimri-Lim
238:Sîn-kāšid
230:Rim-Sîn I
180:Rim-Sîn I
135:Sîn-kāšid
121:Biography
107:Rim-Sîn I
87:romanized
75:Sîn-kāšid
71:Relatives
65:Rim-Sîn I
673:27813103
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223:Me-Turan
215:Sumerian
195:Sumerian
189:Next to
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270:Lagash
219:Nippur
172:temple
85:(also
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211:Larsa
201:Works
184:Larsa
158:) of
818:Uruk
755:ISBN
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705:ISBN
686:ISBN
669:OCLC
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628:ISSN
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272:and
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