General Description:
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language (part of the greater Afroasiatic language family) that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate. The name of the language is derived from the city of Akkad, a major center of Semitic Mesopotamian civilization, during the Akkadian Empire (2334 – 2154 BC), although the language predates the founding of Akkad.
Books:
- Miller, D.B., Shipp, R.M., An Akkadian Handbook: Paradigms, Helps, Glossary, Logograms, and Sign List (1996)
- Caplice, R., Introduction to Akkadian (Fourth Edition)(2002)
- Black, J., George, A., and Postgate, N., A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (2nd Edition)(2000)
- Ungnad, A., Matous, L., and Hoffner, H.A., Akkadian Grammar (1992)
- Delizsch, F., Assyrisches Handwörterbuch (1896)
- Huehnergard, J., A Grammar of Akkadian (2000)
- Hameen-Anttila, J., A Sketch of Neo-Assyrian Grammar (2000)
- Marcus, D., A Manual of Akkadian (1978)
- Oppenheim, A. L., et al. Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.
- Parpola, S., The Helsinki Neo-Assyrian Dictionary (2005)
Online Resources:
Omniglot is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languages.
Home page on Akkadian, an introduction collected by John Heise. Akkadian is a great cultural language of world history. These pages are about the cuneiform writing system on clay tablets, the language, the grammar. Some texts examples with transliteration and explanation are presented.
Ancient Scripts.com – Akkadian
A writing system as a set of visible or tactile signs used to represent units of language in a systematic way. This simple explanation encompasses a large spectrum of writing systems with vastly different stylistic and structural characteristics spanning across the many regions of the globe.
History World – The Akkadians of Mesopotamia
A history of ancient Akkad (Akkadians) from its rise to fall including its kings, cities, laws and contributions to civilization.
Sources of Early Akkadian Literature
Sources of Early Akkadian Literature is a joint project of the Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Altorientalisches Institut of the University of Leipzig.
GraecoMuse 