In all of recorded history, she was the first author to be given a name. Furthermore, the poet-princess-priestess was not a Greek historical figure.

According to Sidney Babcock, curator of the recently inaugurated exhibition “She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca 3400-2000 BC” at New York City’s Morgan Library, “When people ask who the first author is, they never guess anyone in Mesopotamia, and it’s never a woman.”

He claims that most of the time, they refer to an ancient Greek figure, according to a BBC special feature. If they do refer to a female author, it’s Sappho, who lived more than a millennium later and whose writings survive less than those of Mesopotamia’s Enheduanna.

Read more: Female artists dominate the Venice Biennale for 1st time

You won’t be the only one if you haven’t heard of her. Up until 1927, Enheduanna was completely unknown to modern society. However, Sir Leonard Woolley, an archaeologist, discovered items that bear her name. As the high priestess of the moon deity Nanna-Suen, she wrote 42 temple hymns and three stand-alone poems that scholars consider to be important contributions to Mesopotamia’s literary legacy, much like the “Epic of Gilgamesh” (which is not credited to a specific author). Her name in Sumerian means “Ornament of Heaven”, the BBC feature says.

Enheduanna was a political figure in addition to being a religious leader and priestess. She was also the daughter of Sargon the Great, who some historians believe to be the one who established the first empire in world history. She was particularly important in bringing Akkad, the northern Mesopotamian region where Sargon initially attained power, together before he later conquered the southern Sumerian city-states. She did this by emphasising the connections between the rituals and beliefs associated with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar and the Sumerian goddess Inanna in her literary and religious hymns and songs, thereby establishing a shared set of beliefs throughout the empire. Enheduanna composed 42 hymns for as many temples in the southern part of Mesopotamia. The poems were transcribed by scribes at the temples for hundreds of years after Enheduanna’s death, according to the BBC.

Read more: Anne de Henning’s rare photos of Bangladesh’s birth, Bangabandhu to have Paris exhibition

On clay tablets, with wedge-shaped impressions known as cuneiform, are Enheduanna’s works on display throughout the presentation. She recounts the creative process in the following passage from her poem “The Exaltation of Inanna”:

I have given birth,

Oh exalted lady, (to this song) for you.

That which I recited to you at (mid)night

May the singer repeat it to you at noon!

Babcock expects that the show at New York City’s Morgan Library would raise Enheduanna’s profile.

Read more: Ukraine: UNESCO World Heritage Sites