The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character"The Sumerians, the pragmatic and gifted people who preceded the Semites in the land first known as Sumer and later as Babylonia, created what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man, spanning the fifth to the second millenniums B.C. With the help of large-scale irrigation the Sumerians transformed the hot, arid, windswept land into a pleasant dwelling place. They devised such useful tools and skills as the brick mold, potter's wheel, seed plow, sailboat, copper and bronze casting, and engraving. They developed a system of writing in clay that was borrowed and used all over the Near East for more than two thousand years. Their ideas and literary works permeated the thought and writings of all the people of western Asia and to some extent even those of the Aegean world. Written by an outstanding authority on the Sumerians, this book is an unparalleled compendium of what is known about them. Professor Kramer communicates his enthusiasm for his subject as he outlines the history of the Sumerian civilization and describes their cities, religion, literature, education, scientific achievements, social structure, and psychology. Finally, he considers the legacy of Sumer to the ancient and modern world. Sumerian origin and influence are still discernible in a Mosaic law, in the tears of Job, in a Hindu myth, a Euclidean theorem, a heraldic design, the degree of an angle, the writing of a number. Much of the content of this book is based on the Sumerian literary documents which have become available only in recent years and largely through the concentrated efforts of the author. Although most of the approximately five thousand tablets and fragments on which Sumerian literature is inscribed were excavated more than a half-century ago, Professor Kramer had to comb museums and collections the world over to identify, study, copy, and catalogue the scattered documents. Both text and appendixes include many translations of cuneiform inscriptions, the large majority of which were prepared by the author or under his guidance." -- |
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User Review - Mapguy314 - LibraryThingFifty-five years ago I read "History begins at Sumer" and was fascinated. A few years ago, I found "The Sumerians". A few days ago, I founnd 2 little sculptures in an antique shop that turned out to ... Read full review
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User Review - Loptsson - LibraryThingAn awesome book! I have had this book for a very long time and mainly used it for reference, so this was the first time I actually read the whole thing through. My only regret is that I had not read ... Read full review
Contents
| 3 | |
| 33 | |
| 73 | |
RELIGION Theology Rite and Myth | 112 |
LITERATURE The Sumerian BellesLettres | 165 |
EDUCATION The Sumerian School | 229 |
CHARACTER Drives Motives and Values | 249 |
THE LEGACY OF SUMER | 269 |
C VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS | 308 |
D SAMPLE DATEFORMULAS | 327 |
E SUMERIAN KING LIST | 328 |
F LETTERS | 331 |
G DITILLAS court decisions | 335 |
H LIPITISHTAR LAW CODE | 336 |
I FARMERS ALMANAC | 340 |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 343 |
APPENDIXES | 301 |
A THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CUNEIFORM SYSTEM OF WRITING | 302 |
B THE SUMERIAN LANGUAGE | 306 |
INDEX | 347 |
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Common terms and phrases
according ancient Aratta barley become begins boat bring brought building built carried charge city-state close composition consisted contained copy culture death deity destroyed documents doubt Dumuzi Dynasty Eannatum early earth Enki Enlil ensi Erech excavated exist fact father field follows four Gilgamesh give goddess gods hand head heart heaven holy human hundred hymns important Inanna inscriptions judge king Kish known Lagash lament land language lapis lazuli later least lines List literary living lord meaning millennium mother mountain myth nether world Ningirsu Ninhursag Nippur original palace passage Persian poem practically prepared probably reads reigned rulers scribes seems Semitic signs silver stone Sumer Sumerian tablet temple third tion took translation turn University wife writing
Popular passages
Page 149 - God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till, the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Page 193 - I too, will be served thus; verily 'tis so. Man, the tallest, cannot reach to heaven, Man, the widest, cannot cover the earth, Not (yet) have brick and stamp brought forth the fated end, I would enter the 'land,' I would set up my name, In its places where the names have been raised up, I would raise up my name, In its places where the names have not been raised up, I would raise up the names of the gods.
Page 240 - Library is based at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, Europe's largest institution specializing in the study of languages and cultures of Africa and Asia.
Page 336 - Nunamnir— to the princeship of the land in order to establish justice in the land, to banish complaints, to turn back enmity (and) rebellion by the force of arms, (and) to bring well-being to the Sumerians and Akkadians...
Page 153 - Enlil, the leading god of the Sumerian pantheon, and plead with him to save her and not let her be put to death in the Nether World. If Enlil refuses, Ninshubur is to go to Ur, the city of the moon-god Nanna, and repeat his plea. If Nanna, too, refuses, he is to go to Eridu, the city of Enki, the god of wisdom, who "knows the food of life," who "knows the water of life," and he will surely come to her rescue.
Page 124 - Lipit-Ishtar ... to the princeship of the land in order to establish justice in the land, to banish complaints, to turn back enmity and rebellion by the force of arms, (and) to bring well-being to the Sumerians and Akkadians...
Page 282 - The dove droops not the head, The sick-eyed says not "I am sick-eyed...
Page 123 - Sumerian thinkers, in line with their world view, had no exaggerated confidence in man and his destiny. They were firmly convinced that man was fashioned of clay and created for one purpose only: to serve the gods by supplying them with food, drink, and shelter, so that they might have full leisure for their divine activities.
Page 291 - ... Asia — Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hurrians, Canaanites, and Elamites — to name only those for which positive and direct evidence is available at the moment — had found it to their interest to borrow the cuneiform script in order to inscribe their own records and writings. For the adoption and adaptation of this syllabic and logographic system of writing, which had been developed by the Sumerians to write their own agglutinative and largely monosyllabic tongue, demanded...
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character Page 422 of Phoenix books |
| Author | Samuel Noah Kramer |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 1963 |
| ISBN | 0226452387, 9780226452388 |
| Length | 355 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / General History / General Travel / Essays & Travelogues |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |