History Begins ar Sumer Author:Samuel Noah Kramer For the past 26 years I have been active in Sumerological research, particularly in the field of Sumerian literature. The ensuing studies have appeared primarily in the form of highly specialized books, monographs, & articles scattered in a number of scholarly journals. The present book brings together-for the layman, humanist, & scholar - some ... more »of the significant results embodied in those Sumerological researches & publications.
The book consists of 25 essays strung on a common thread: they all treat of "firsts" in man's recorded history. They are thus of no little significance for the history of ideas & the study of cultural origins. But this is only secondary & accidental, a by-product, as it were, of all Sumerological research. The main purpose of the essays is to present a cross section of the spiritual & cultural achievements of one of man's earliest & most creative civilizations. All the major fields of human endeavor are represented; governments & politics, education & literature, philosophy & ethics, law & justice, even agriculture & medicine. The available evidence is sketched in what, it is hoped, is clear & unambiguous language. Above all, the ancient documents themselves are put before the reader either in full or in the form of essential excerpts, so that he can sample their mood & flavor as well as follow the main threads of the argument.« less