Alessandra CupaniHistory 105-3Topic #1Samuel Noah Kramer wrote: “I have long argued that, despite the obvious differences, both superficial and profound, between culture, character and mentality of ancient Sumerian and modern man are fundamentally analogous, comparable and mutually illuminating” (p.259). What Kramer is trying to say, in simpler terms, is that modern man and the ancient Sumerians are more similar than they seem. Kramer makes several connections throughout the book, The Story Begins in Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History. While Kramer clearly highlights the differences between these two cultures, he also makes it clear that the similarities regarding education, law codes, and more are undeniable. In the first chapter of History Begins in Sumer, Kramer states how the "Sumerian school" was a direct consequence of the invention and development of the cuneiform system” (p.3) Essentially, the Sumerians were the first complex society to introduce a form of writing. It is a known fact that in modern America people communicate writing not with shapes and variations of pictograms, but with an alphabetic system. The alphabet used today evolved from the one that the ancient Sumerians invented in the late third millennium BC. However, the alphabet is only a stepping stone to one of many connections that Kramer says are similar between modern and ancient times. Sumerians. . According to History beginning in Sumer, their writing system was a bridge to their school system. The original goal of the Sumerian school was to train scribes. However, the Sumerian school was also the center of creative writing. The Sumerian school therefore, in a certain sense, ... middle of paper ... amer manages to affirm how the Sumerian religion is also comparable to the religion of today. While it is clear that the Sumerians could not have had a direct influence on the Jews, there are biblical parallels that are difficult to argue against. This is so, because the Sumerians influenced the Canaanites who preceded the Jews, justifying that the parallels would be obvious. The concept of divine paradise, in fact, was originally a concept of the Sumerian religion. Kramer states, “There is good indication that the biblical paradise, which is described as a garden planted eastward in Eden…may have originally been identical with Dilmun, the Sumerian paradise land” (p.143). There are multiple biblical parallels that Kramer uses to prove his theory; one concerning 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'. The contents of the tablet that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh