V protivopolozhnost' Drevnemu Egiptu, ostavivshemu nam bogatyj izobrazitel'nyj material v vide statuj, rel'efov i fresok, ot Shumera sohranilos' nemnogo. Tem bolee predstavlyaetsya tsennym trud Semyuela N. Kramera, v kotorom chitatel' najdet publikatsii fotografij nekotoryh doshedshih do nas shumerskih rel'efov i statuj. Velikolepnye perevody tekstov, uvlekatel'noe izlozhenie, ogromnyj fakticheskij material pozvolyayut rekomendovat' knigu amerikanskogo uchenogo vsem, kto interesuetsya proshlym chelovechestva.
Dr. Samuel Noah Kramer, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania, 1929; born Simcha Kramer), was a historian, philologist, and Assyriologist, particularly renowned as an expert in the language and history of Sumer. He was Clark Research Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also Curator Emeritus of the Tablet Collections.
Dr. Kramer is often credited with the virtual creation of Sumerian cuneiform literature as an academic field, in which he wrote some 30 books for both academic and popular audiences. was a member of the American Oriental Society, Archeological Institute of America, Society of Biblical Literature and American Philosophical Society, which awarded him its John Frederick Lewis Prize.