Largest selection of original Biblical stock illustrations

"... and she goes out white sparked, radiant in the dark vault of the evening's sky star-steps in the street through the Gate of Wonder ..." (Enheduanna: Inanna and Ebih. Composed around 2230 BC) Regarded as the earliest known poet in history, Enheduanna (2260-2200) was a princess whom her father, King Sargon of Akkad, elevated to the office of High Priestess in the city of Ur, Abraham's birthplace in southern Sumer. Enheduanna's surviving devotional poems are powerful liturgical songs and hymns many of which are dedicated to the great Sumerian goddess Inanna. Her poetry was copied for many generations and they were kept in royal libraries in Mesopotamian cities alongside the most important documents. This painting was inspired by her poetry and it depicts her in full regalia chanting devotional songs as her inebriated priestesses accompany her with abandon. The image features many of the large number of finds excavated in the city of Ur by Sir Leonard Wooley in the 1920s, although they predate Enheduanna by a couple of centuries. The large bull harp she is depicted playing, the "goat in the thicket" offering table and the elaborate head dresses with the golden leaves and florets as well as a large collection of finds from the royal cemetery of Ur are all on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia.