Enheduanna Chapter 1

Act (1)
 
Summary:
Anna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, is summoned to her father's court. Sargon describes how he occupied Sumer and how he captured king Zage-Si and had him paraded into the city with a dog leash on his neck before killing him. He tells his daughter that he wants her to become high priestess of the temples of Uruk and Ur. At first she refuses. Finally Sargon appoints his daughter as high priestess and bestows upon her the title of "Enheduanna".
 
Setting:
In the great throne room in the city of Akkad. Sargon is sitting on his throne. Anna is waiting.
 
In the land where time began.
Before words were written down.
Where man began to lay
cities with stone and clay.
Kingdoms emerged
and died, until one man
finally came and merged  
all in one, gods as well as man.
Two people he did unite
and set the world alight.
His name was Sargon the Great
And this is how he changed the fate
of the world with his kin as bate.
 
-Court Announcer  
Her highness princess Anna.
Daughter of King Sargon the Great,
ruler of all the lands and seas,
beloved of the Gods Anu and Enlil,
destroyer of men and beasts.
 
(Anna enters and stands in front of her father in silence)
 
-Sargon
Welcome my daughter.
You look beautiful as your mother.
 
-Anna
Thank you father.
Your words give me great honor.
As they do Queen Tashlultum, my mother.
 
-Sargon
I am sure they do.
Do you know why I summoned you
to my court my daughter?
 
-Anna
I am yours to command.
I will do whatever you wish.
I am of your blood and flesh.
Your eyes, your ears, your hand,
Oh Great King of Kish.
 
-Sargon (laughs)
I see I have chosen wisely.
Your tongue is as quick as your wit.
I need that where I want you to sit.
I need that ever so badly,
as much as your beauty and every bit.
 
-Anna
You have generals and many others.
Swarms of men as well as my two brothers.
All able men that serve you like no other.
 
-Sargon
True....
But non is suitable to the task in mind.
I have a plan to bring to light.
I have conquered Sumer and Akkad.
Rulers and Kings brought to abide.
Cities and towns fell to my banner.
Walls of stone crumbled and fell aside.
Even their great king Zage-Si  
I paraded in the streets like a hog,
with a leash on his neck like a dog,
before I killed him with my bare hands.
However......
One task is still left untouched.
Men's hearts need to be conquered as much.
And that is a task that needs your delicate touch.
 
-Anna
That is a task impossible to grasp.  
Only the gods can win
men's hearts or forgive their sin.
 
-Sargon
That is precisely what I need.
Someone they can love,
serve or heed.
Someone even the Gods could appease
as well as men's flesh and souls to please.  
I need the high priestess of Uruk
on my side.
I need the priestess of the temple of Ur
and her might.
I need every god, goddess, every man, woman
to abide,
under my rule.
That is why I need you on my side.
 
-Anna (angry)
FATHER!!!!!!
but I am your flesh and blood.
You need a witch, a harlot and a slut!!!!!
 
-Sargon (laughs again)
Your mother would have embraced this deed.
If not that her health and hair so gray
she would have begged for that which I say.
She was a priestess and a harlot indeed.
That is where we met before I gave her my seed.
 
(Sargon is angry now. He stands up and shouts at his daughter)
 
Your escapades of love are well known.
Shouts of lust have even reached our court.
So don't pretend innocence as shown.
We are all the result of passion of sort.
Your mother, my mother we are all the same.
You know your father. I don't.
but still...
We live and die according to the will of the Gods.
And their will is now my own.
 
-Anna  
Please forgive my insolence, my King.
I spoke in fear, my Lord.
But you are sending me away,
to lands still hostile to our way.
The cities of Sumer are still in sway.
They revolt every single day.
You need an army to keep them at bay.
Not a priestess with the Gods to pray.
 
-Sargon
That is where you are wrong my child.
I need the calm to stem the wild.
I need the high to ebb the tide.
I need the passion to steer the mild.
That is why I need you by my side.
I need the high priestess to be their guide.
 
-Anna
You honor me with your words, my Leigh.
But can I do all the things you say?
I am only a woman I might add.
Please relieve me of this task, I plead.
 
-Sargon
It is not for you to chose to be.
It is for me. And you are mine.
And thus I chose you as my Ensi.
My ears to hear, my eyes to see,
to rule men and mold the gods.
Bring them all to kneel to me.
That is why you are to be, my En.
The high priestess of Eanna,
the light of Inanna, and wife of Sin.
You are to rule the great Uruk,
as well as Ur, just by the sea.
The great cities of Sumer are yours.
But don't forget.  
YOU...
belong to me.
 
-Anna (kneels in front of her father)
I am yours my lord.
 
-Sargon
Let it be known from this day on
your name will be Enheduanna,
priestess and adornment of An,
king of all the gods and man.
Let these words be written in stone,
chiseled on clay and sung at dawn.
When the light of Inanna shines,  
every mornings, evenings, alone.
 
Note:
 
1- Kish - one of several cities states in Mesopotamia. Sargon was the cupbearer of the previous king of Kish. He ousted him and took his place before establishing his own empire.
 
2- Ensi - Sumarian language meaning a ruler of a city or governor.
 
3- En - another meaning for a ruler of a city or governor.  
 
4- light of Inanna- The planet Venus is the first heavenly body to shine in the evening sky and the last to disappear in the morning.
 
5- the first form of writing was chiseled on clay tablets.