The Sumerian King List

Before the pyramids, before the Bible, the scribes of ancient Sumer drew up a single unbroken thread of kingship stretching from the beginning of time to their own day. The Sumerian King List tells of a time when 'kingship descended from heaven' — of eight primordial rulers reigning for tens of thousands of years, of the great flood that swept the world, and of the dynasties that followed in Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Akkad, down to the age of Gilgamesh and Sargon of Akkad. This edition presents the masterpiece in clear, welcoming modern English, honoring the old clay tablets while making them feel immediate: its formulaic rhythms, its regal lists of names and years, and its haunting refrain, 'Who was king? Who was not king?' A work of history, politics, and myth in one, it remains a spellbinding bridge to the world's first civilization. This is a faithful modern-English rendering of the classic text — not an interpretation or a retelling. Part of The World Scriptures Library.