History Begins at Sumer by Samuel Kramer

Samuel Noah Kramer's History Begins at Sumer is a chronicle of thirty-nine "firsts" in world history. Kramer is one of the second half of the 20th Century's great experts on the Sumer, and the selections here are mostly readable and fun.

We chose this work to help give the student a general feel for early Mesopotamian culture, so the purpose is to read for general impressions rather than for precision.

The chapters we've selected are:

1. Education: The First Schools
2. Schooldays: The First Case of "Apple Polishing"
6. Civil War in Sumer: The First Historian
7. Social Reform: The First Case of Tax Reduction
13. Philosophy: Man's First Cosmogony and Cosmology
16. Wisdom: The First Proverbs and Sayings
17. "Aesopica": The First Animal Fables
25. To the Royal Bridegroom: The First Love Song
37. Three Funeral Changs: The First Elegies
39. Home of the Fish: The First Aquarium

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