The princess exiled from ancient Mesopotamia - Soraya Field Fiorio
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4,300 years ago in ancient Sumer, the most powerful person in the city of Ur was banished to wander the vast desert. Her name was Enheduanna, and by the time of her exile, she had written forty-two hymns and three epic poems— and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her. Who was this woman, and why was she exiled? Soraya Field Fiorio details the life of history’s first author.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Soraya Field Fiorio
- Director Laura White
- Narrator Christina Greer
- Sound Designer Phil Brookes
- Music Phil Brookes
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Associate Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
- Fact-Checker Eden Girma
by TED-Ed
There is an old adage that says the pen is mightier than the sword. Enheduanna’s father, Sargon, was a mighty military leader and possibly the first person ever to conquer independent Mesopotamian city-states and unify them into a single, expansive empire. However, he could not keep the peace with the threat of military dominance alone. He relied on his bilingual daughter Enheduanna to unite the northern Akkadian and southern Sumerian kingdoms with her writings that honored ancient traditions and tried to find common ground between both cultures. In what ways is trying to find commonality without using violence a more effective way to maintain political harmony than through military force?
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Harry Connerty
Lesson completed
Finding ways to unite people harmoniously rather than violently will always end better.
Elena Pavlatos
Lesson completed
I think that the point of saying the pen is mightier that the sword, possible means that violence isn't the best road to go, writing something out on paper and determining a decision thought out is a better choice that reckless violence.
Tania Gisell Salgado
Lesson in progress
Because when you combine cultures you can empathize with all people while generating fear with military force only leads to more disputes.
Caleb Hutchinson
Lesson completed
Finding ways to unite people harmoniously rather than violently will always end better. Nobody wants to live among their oppressors.
Kai Warren
Lesson completed
Using commonality while trying without violence can save many people life and can Improve your culture without harming someone else's. Using military force and violence can lead to injure when other don't intend to do it. Using commonality is best to do during maintain political harmony, it can save lives and help improve your country/city.
Olivia Lemaitre
Lesson in progress
It's more effective because fighting only proves that you are powerful and ruthless not exactly the person that you want to be ruled by. Writing can get a point through without violence and war. I agree that the pen or in this case the wooden stick is mightier than a sword because writing can have many emotions.
Ronak Tathireddy
Lesson completed
It was more effective, because if people resorted to violence all the time, there would never be peace. Enheduanna's writing was proving this, because there was no happiness in the south, but when Enheduanna started writing, the people were starting to become more peaceful. King Sargon's violence may have united city-states, but Enheduanna's writing kept the kingdom united.
Blanca Borjon-Vallejo
Lesson in progress
Sargon used a really interesting approach which was not using violence but peace, this method is more effective because it unites the two kingdoms instead of having them hate each other more. If we all used this method of peace there would be no fights just kindness.
Charles Holl
Lesson in progress
Using violence will lead to the downfall of your society. Finding peace and not the use of military force will not only unite the 2 sides, but also not have a treaty that one side won't rebel to fix a bad cause but also not leave one side in fear of the other. In the end it will lead to a happier community and a relationship that have peace.
Samantha McGinley
Lesson in progress
When violence is used as a primary mechanism to solve issues within a community, its often not effective.It creates more anger and hostility than it solves. Writing is a peaceful way to explain an opinion or idea without such violence and rage. Violence created many problems even in ancient history, while the power of speech and literature solved it. When Enheduanna had been exiled and a new king had come to reign with fury, he had only been conquered again and brought the hand to reign religiously once again.
