Akkadian language facts for kids

Akkadian (llišānum akkadītum) or Assyro-Babylonian was a Semitic language (part of the Afro-Asiatic language family) that was spoken in ancient Iraq. The first-known Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system from ancient Sumer.

Akkadian is divided into several varieties based on geography and historical period:

• Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC
• Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC
• Middle Babylonian/Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC
• Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC
• Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD

The earliest known Akkadian inscription was found on a bowl at Ur. It was addressed to a very early pre-Sargonic king of Ur by his queen Gan-saman, who is thought to have been from Akkad.

The Akkadian Empire, established by Sargon of Akkad, introduced the Akkadian language (the "language of Akkad") as a written language. It used Sumerian cuneiform orthography (writing method) for the purpose. During the middle Bronze Age (Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period), the language displaced Sumerian. Sumerian probably became extinct as a living language by the 18th century BC.

Images for kids

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  Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script) (1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ḫi, 2 = LG "moat", 3 = SG aʾ, 4 = SG aḫ, eḫ, iḫ, uḫ, 5 = SG kam, 6 = SG im, 7 = SG bir)

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  An Akkadian inscription

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  Georg Friedrich Grotefend

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  The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.

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  The first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet dates from the reign of Rimush. Louvre Museum AO 5477. The top column is in Sumerian, the bottom column is its translation in Akkadian.

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  Inscription in Babylonian, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE

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  Neo-Babylonian inscription of king Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th century BCE

See also

In Spanish: Idioma acadio para niños