KRAMER, SAMUEL NOAH

(1897–1990)

Ukrainian-born American Sumerologist. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and remained associated with this institution all his life, participating in excavations and serving as curator of the tablet collection and as professor of Assyriology. He worked primarily on Sumerian literary texts and also wrote widely read books on Sumerian history and religion (Sumerian Mythology, 1944; History Begins at Sumer, 1959; The Sumerians: Their History,Culture and Character, 1963; The Sacred Marriage Rite, 1969).