L0.2: History and Periodisation
L0.2: History and Periodisation#
The earliest attestations consist of Akkadian personal names in Sumerian documents from ca. 2600 BCE. The first documents written in the Akkadian language date from ca. 2350 BCE and the last dated record is from 75 CE (Kouwenberg 2010, 10). Probably around the middle of the first millenium BCE it was already extinct as a spoken language.
The native designation of the language was akkadû i.e. akkadītu “Akkadian”. It is also used to refer to its dialect like “Babylonian” or “Assyrian”. The name derives from the city of the empire’s capital Akkad (2400-2200 BCE), which is situated near to Samarra (Sommerfeld 2021, 514).
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After the rediscovery of the cuneiform script it was assumed that the Akkadian language was actually Assyrian. That is why this discipline is until today known as “Assyriology.”
The Akkadian language has three main dialects: Old Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and a scholarly dialect known as Standard Babylonian. The conventional periodisation for the Akkadian dilaects is as follows (Hasselbach-Andee 2021, 137):
Period |
Old Akkdian |
Babylonian |
Assyrian |
|---|---|---|---|
ca. 2600-2112 BCE |
Old Akkadian |
||
2112 – ca. 2000 BCE |
Early Babylonian |
||
ca. 2000–1500 BCE |
Old Babylonian |
Old Assyrian |
|
ca. 1500–1000 BCE |
Middle Babylonian |
Middle Assyrian |
|
ca. 1000–600 BCE |
Neo-Babylonian |
Neo-Assyrian |
|
ca. 600 BCE–100 BCE |
Late Babylonian |
The Old Akkadian is the name for the cuneiform documents written in the East Semitic dialects from the time the cuneiform script was invented until the second millenium. The number of documents are smaller in comparison to those written in the following millennia.
The Babylonian dialect is named after the city of Babylon. It was spoken in the south of Mesopotamia, but attestations of its use are found in northern Mesopotamia, Elam, Syria, Israel, etc. It is the best attested dialect with regard to the number of known texts. The Old Babylonian stage is normally used as reference language in introductory textbooks (the same in this online coursebook) and comparative Semitic studies.
The Assyrian dialect is named after the city of Assur. Is was spoken in the North of Mesopotamia and the western bank of the Tigris. This dialect is also well attested.
The Standard Babylonian is a scientific and literary variety that appears after the Old Babylonian period and tries to emulate it. It was widely used in and outside Mesopotamia.