
The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character
Phoenix Books
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Narrated by:
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Nigel Patterson
About this listen
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 BC. 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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1963 The University of Chicago Press (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"An uncontested authority on the civilization of Sumer, Professor Kramer writes with grace and urbanity." -Library Journal
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Story
The Sumerians settled in the area known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, around 5,000 years ago. They produced many fundamental changes to the way in which human societies developed - these were the first city-builders, the first people to use wheeled vehicles, the first methodical astronomers, and the first people to develop a sophisticated written language. The Sumerians also produced art, music, and literature as well as created some of the first professional soldiers the world had ever seen.
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Simple and as best “to the point” as it can be
- By Lona on 08-24-24
By: Hourly History
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The First Ghosts
- Most Ancient of Legacies
- By: Irving Finkel
- Narrated by: Irving Finkel
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th-century Gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older.
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Ghosts Were Causing My Tinnitus!
- By James D on 01-08-22
By: Irving Finkel
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Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Monster from the Ancient Mesopotamian Sumerian Mythology
- By: Simon Lopez
- Narrated by: Neil Hamilton
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know that the Sumerians believed that: The moon was actually a god child conceived unintentionally by the God Enlil and a maid? Or that humans were first created to do the chores on earth for the Gods and Goddesses? The ancient Sumerians lived a difficult life, and this is reflected in their myths. However, also reflected in their stories is their love for justice and the values which they most supported, among them beauty, honor, and truthfulness.
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Not a True Mythology
- By Glenda Nichols on 05-21-19
By: Simon Lopez
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Weavers, Scribes, and Kings
- A New History of the Ancient Near East
- By: Amanda H. Podany
- Narrated by: Amanda H. Podany
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.
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word of advice
- By Jim Davis on 08-04-23
By: Amanda H. Podany
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Europe Between the Oceans
- 9000 BC-AD 1000
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this magnificent book, distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe reframes our entire conception of early European history, from prehistory through the ancient world to the medieval Viking period. Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe's great transpeninsular rivers, ensured a rich diversity of natural resources while also encouraging the dynamic interaction of peoples across networks of communication and exchange.
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Pathways of immigration
- By Brooks Smith on 12-21-24
By: Barry Cunliffe
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Antiquity
- From the Birth of Sumerian Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire
- By: Norman F. Cantor
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Norman Cantor delivers this compact but magisterial survey of the ancient world - from the birth of Sumerian civilization around 3500 BC in the Tigris-Euphrates valley (present-day Iraq) to the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476. In Antiquity, Cantor covers such subjects as Classical Greece, Judaism, the founding of Christianity, and the triumph and decline of Rome.
By: Norman F. Cantor
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The Bible Unearthed
- Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts
- By: Neil Asher Silberman, Israel Finkelstein
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible - the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire - reflect the world of the later authors.
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Quite Eye Opening
- By K. Walker on 10-11-22
By: Neil Asher Silberman, and others
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The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
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Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
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Populus
- Living and Dying in Ancient Rome
- By: Guy de la Bédoyère
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Frenzied crowds, talking ravens, the stench of the Tiber River: life in ancient Rome was stimulating, dynamic, and often downright dangerous. The Romans relaxed and gossiped in baths, stole precious water from aqueducts, and partied and dined to excess. From the smells of fragrant cookshops and religious sacrifices to the cries of public executions and murderous electoral mobs, Guy de la Bedoyere's Populus draws on a host of historical and literary sources to transport us into the intensity of daily life at the height of ancient Rome.
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Narration is excellent!
- By Richard Curry on 08-10-24
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Mystery Cults in the Ancient World
- By: Hugh Bowden
- Narrated by: Bruce Mann
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Mystery cults are one of the most intriguing areas of Greek and Roman religion. In the nocturnal mysteries at Eleusis, participants dramatically reenacted the story of Demeter's loss and recovery of her daughter Persephone; in the Bacchic cult, bands of women ran wild in the Greek countryside to honor Dionysus; in the mysteries of Mithras, men came to understand the nature of the universe and their place within it through frightening initiation ceremonies and astrological teachings.
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ok book, awful reading
- By S.T.M on 11-26-24
By: Hugh Bowden
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Yiddish Civilisation: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Tracing Yiddish civilization from its roots in the Diaspora to the present, Paul Kriwaczek combines intimate family anecdote, travelogue, historical research, and interviews with scholars to give us a rich portrait of a nearly extinguished culture as it survived across the centuries. He begins his chronicle in Jerusalem, with the destruction of the Jewish temple at the hands of the Romans in the year 70. We see the burgeoning exile population disperse, moving outward and northward throughout the following centuries, making their mark in more far flung cities under Roman rule.
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Disorganized, inconclusive and disappointing
- By Alex on 12-15-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
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Land Between the Rivers
- A 5,000-Year History of Iraq
- By: Bartle Bull
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Bull chronicles the story of Iraq from the exploits of Gilgamesh to the fall of the Iraqi monarchy that ushered in its modern era. The land between the rivers has been the melting pot and battleground of countless outsiders. Here, Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape.
By: Bartle Bull