History Begins at Sumer

Samuel Noah Kramer was Clark Research Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also Curator Emeritus of the Tablet Collections.

"Kramer ranked among the world's foremost Sumerologists. . . . The book will interest both the scholar and the general educated reader."-Religious Studies Bulletin"[Kramer] possesses the enviable ability to speak authoritatively in a lively and captivating style."-Choice

• Preface to the First EditionList of IllustrationsPhotographic SourcesIntroductionChapter 1 Education: The First SchoolsChapter 2 Schooldays: The First Case of "Apple-Polishing"Chapter 3 Father and Son: The First Case of Juvenile DelinquencyChapter 4 International Affairs: The First "War of Nerves"Chapter 5 Government: The First Bicameral CongressChapter 6 Civil War in Sumer: The First HistorianChapter 7 Social Reform: The First Case of Tax ReductionChapter 8 Law Codes: The First "Moses"Chapter 9 Justice: The First Legal PrecedentChapter 10 Medicine: The First PharmacopoeiaChapter 11 Agriculture: The First "Farmer's Almanac"Chapter 12 Horticulture: The First Experiment in Shade-Tree GardeningChapter 13 Philosophy: Man's First Cosmogony and CosmologyChapter 14 Ethics: The First Moral IdealsChapter 15 Suffering and Submission: The First "Job"Chapter 16 Wisdom: The First Proverbs and SayingsChapter 17 "Aesopica": The First Animal FablesChapter 18 Logomachy: The First Literary DebatesChapter 19 Paradise: The First Biblical ParallelsChapter 20 A Flood: The First "Noah"Chapter 21 Hades: The First Tale of ResurrectionChapter 22 Slaying of the Dragon: The First ''St. George"Chapter 23 Tales of Gilgamesh: The First Case of Literary BorrowingChapter 24 Epic Literature: Man's First Heroic AgeChapter 25 To the Royal Bridegroom: The First Love SongChapter 26 Book Lists: The First Library CatalogueChapter 27 World Peace and Harmony: Man's First Golden AgeChapter 28 Ancient Counterparts of Modern Woes: The First "Sick" SocietyChapter 29 Destruction and Deliverance: The First Liturgic LamentsChapter 30 The Ideal King: The First MessiahsChapter 31 Shulgi of Ur: The First Long-Distance ChampionChapter 32 Poetry The First Literary ImageryChapter 33 The Sacred Marriage Rite: The First Sex SymbolismChapter 34 Weeping Goddesses: The First Mater DolorosaChapter 35 U-a A-u-a: The First LullabyChapter 36 The Ideal Mother: Her First Literary PortraitChapter 37 Three Funeral Chants: The First ElegiesChapter 38 The Pickaxe and the Plow: Labor's First VictoryChapter 39 Home of the Fish: The First AquariumCorrigenda and Addenda to the Second EditionGlossaryAppendix A. A Curse and a Map: New Gleanings from the Tablets of SumerAppendix B. The Origin and Development of the Cuneiform System of Writing and Other Comments on the Illustrations