Sumerian King List

PREFACE The incentive to, the studies here presented was .furnished by the excava- tions,, of the Orient.al, Institute at Tell:Asmar. .When in the season of 1931/32 we opened up strata of Agade and Early Dynastic times, the chronology of these periods naturally occupied our thoughts greatly, and the author felt prompted to resume earlier, more perfunctory studies of the Sumerian King List. The main ideas embodied in the present work took shape that season in the evenings, after days spent in the houses and among the remains of the periods with which the King List deals. The detailed working-out and re- peated testing of these ideas have occupied much of the author's time in the years since then. He releases them-aithough he feels that they will continue to occupy his thoughts for a long time yet - in the sincere hope that they will prove fruitful to other workers in this field and contribute toward better under- standing of the innumerable chronological problems which still await solution. The author is indebted to many people for help and encouragement - first of all to the three men to whom this book is dedicated. To the example of their widely different but all truly scholarly personalities I owe much. O. E. Ravn, my teacher, is the embodiment of his own sober concepts of what scholarship should be and the best mentor a young Assyriologist could have. As for Ed- ward Chiera - only those who had the good fortune to work with this warm- hearted, vital, and inspiring scholar can fully realise how irreparable a loss our science suffered at his untimely death in 1933. With H. Frankfort I have been associated through ten years of work in the field and at home, fruitful years of friendship and free exchange of ideas which I value highly. Toward the studies here presented he has shown a never failing interest.