Akkadian Language and Literature

Akkadian Language and Literature, extinct Semitic language dating from the 3rd millennium bc, and the texts written in it, of the ancient region of Akkad (see Sumer). It was spoken in Mesopotamia from the 3rd to 1st millennium bc and spread from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf during the Akkad dynasty and reign of Sargon (2334 to 2279 bc). By about 2,000 bc it had supplanted Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia. Two dialects of Akkadian eventually developed, Assyrian and Babylonian; for this reason it is also called Assyro-Babylonian. (See Assyro-Babylonian Language; Assyro-Babylonian Literature). Assyrian was then supplanted by Babylonian which became the lingua franca of the Middle East by the 9th century bc. It was replaced by Aramaic in the 7th and 6th centuries, and by the 1st century ad had died out completely. Akkadian contained around 600 word and syllable signs, a sound system comprising 20 consonants and eight vowels, three cases (nominative, accusative, and genitive), and two genders distinguished by suffixes. It was written using the Akkadian cuneiform script, which is thought to have developed from Sumerian cuneiform.