The Sumerians

Very informative book!

What an amazing civilisation of 3000BC

Professor Samuel Noah Kramer's book The Sumerians is fantastic. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting an introduction to this fascinating culture. And don't be dissuaded from reading this book because was written in 1963, based on a previous 1956 book on the same subject. Professor Kramer had been immersed in the field for 20-30 years prior to writing the book, translating by himself a huge number of the cuneiform tablets that had not seen the light of day for 4000 years. He not only studied the subject, he seemed to eat, drink, and breathe it! In my mind, the most amazing aspect about this whole topic is that over 100,000 of these clay cuneiform tablets have been found and translated, giving us unprecedented access to understanding this culture that existed so, so long ago. Furthermore, adding to the excitement, it wasn't until the 1850's that these tablets were deciphered. Many tablets describe economic transactions, but many others describe long oral histories, myth stories, and other more intellectual topics! Apparently, many, many more tablets remain to be discovered. Additionally, many of the tablets are broken into many fragments, and another academic pursuit involves painstakingly putting these fragment together, or using fragments from various stories to construct an intact story. Professor Kramer's research involved doing this. The book is divided into 8 topics, each focusing on a different aspect of the cultural phenomenon. Each one was fascinating, though the most amazing the one dealt with the character of the Sumerians, what they thought and what motivated them, how they perceived their world. Another fascinating chapter dealt with Sumerian "firsts" and convincing examples of Sumerian stories that preceded similar Biblical stories. The book also includes a fair deal of excerpts of Sumerian writing, including literature as well as everyday writing. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, it has been almost 50 years since the book was written and I'm curious what has been learned since, though I have no regrets reading this book first.

I liked the lucidity and thoroughness of the story.

a bit dry, but with a lot of content. Recommended!!