The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character

by Samuel Noah Kramer

the marshes, it had no trees for timber. Here, then, was a region with "the hand of God against it," an unpromising land seemingly doomed to poverty and desolation. But the people that inhabited it, the Sumerians, as they came to be known by the third millennium B.C., were endowed with an unusually creative intellect and

them to collect and channel the rich silt-laden overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and use it to water and fructify their fields and gardens. To make up for the dearth of minerals and stones, they learned to bake the river clay and mud, the supply of which was practically inexhaustible, into sickles, pots, plates,

They devised such useful tools, skills, and techniques as the potter's wheel, the wagon wheel, the plow, the sailboat, the arch, the vault, the dome, casting in copper and bronze, riveting, brazing and soldering, sculpture in stone, engraving, and inlay. They originate...

pragmatic view of life and, within the limits of their intellectual resources, rarely confused fact with fancy, wish with fulfilment, or mystery with mystification. In the course of the centuries the Sumeria...

stress on ambition and success, pre-eminence and prestige, honor and recognition. The Sumerian was deeply conscious of his personal rights and resented any encroachment on them, whether by his king, his superior, or his equal. No wonder that the Sumerians were the first to compile laws and law

pragmatic matic view of life and, within the limits of their intellectual resources, sources, rarely confused fact with fancy, wish with fulfilment, or mystery with mystification. In the course of the centuries the Sumerian sages evolved a faith and creed which in a sense "gave

spirit of co-operation among individuals and communities alike: the complete dependence of Sumer on irrigation for its well-being-indeed, for its very existence. Irrigation is a complicated process requiring communal effort and organization. Canals had to be dug

pragmatic matic view of life and, within the limits of their intellectual resources, sources, rarely confused fact with fancy, wish with fulfilment, or mystery with mystification. In the course of the centuries the Sumerian sages evolved a faith and creed which in a sense "gave

pragmatic matic view of life and, within the limits of their intellectual resources, sources, rarely confused fact with fancy, wish with fulfilment, or mystery with mystification. In the course of the centuries the Sumerian sages evolved a faith and creed which in a sense "gave