Akkadian language in the context of Extinct language

The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle East has had several lingua franca: Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic. The Sumerians, around the 5th millennium BC, were among the first to develop a civilization. By 3150 BC, Egyptian civilization unified under its first pharaoh. Mesopotamia hosted powerful empires, notably Assyria which lasted for 1,500 years. For centuries after the 7th century BC, the region was dominated by Persian powers like the Achaemenid Empire.

In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic conquered most of the region, and its successor, the Roman Empire, that ruled from the 6th to 15th centuries AD referred to as the Byzantine Empire, grew significantly more. Roman pagan religions were replaced by Christianity in the 4th century AD. From the 3rd to 7th centuries, Rome ruled alongside the Sasanian Empire. From the 7th century, Islam spread rapidly, expanding Arab identity in the region. The Seljuk dynasty displaced Arab dominance in the 11th century, followed by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform scripts are marked by and named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (Latin: cuneus) which form their signs. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system and was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

Over the course of its history, cuneiform was adapted to write a number of languages in addition to Sumerian. Akkadian texts are attested from the 24th century BC onward and make up the bulk of the cuneiform record. Akkadian cuneiform was itself adapted to write the Hittite language in the early 2nd millennium BC. The other languages with significant cuneiform corpora are Eblaite, Elamite, Hurrian, Luwian, and Urartian. The Old Persian and Ugaritic alphabets feature cuneiform-style signs; however, they are unrelated to the cuneiform logo-syllabary proper. The latest known cuneiform tablet, an astronomical almanac from Uruk, dates to AD 79/80.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/) is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BCE). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates back to the 18th century BCE and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni dates to somewhere between the 13th to the 10th centuries BCE and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru ("He Who Saw the Deep(s)", lit. "He Who Sees the Unknown"). Approximately two-thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BCE Assyrian King Ashurbanipal.

The first part of the story discusses Gilgamesh (who was king of Uruk) and Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation with Shamhat, he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to a test of strength. Gilgamesh wins the contest; nonetheless, the two become friends. Together they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest, where they ultimately slay its Guardian, Humbaba, and cut down the sacred Cedar. The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven, insulting Ishtar in the process, after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death and kill him by giving him a fatal illness.

Media (Old Persian: 𐎶𐎠𐎭 Māda; Greek: Μηδία Mēdía; Akkadian: Mādāya) was a political entity centered in Ecbatana that existed from the 7th century BCE until the mid-6th century BCE and is believed to have dominated a significant portion of the Iranian plateau, preceding the powerful Achaemenid Empire. The frequent interference of the Assyrians in the Zagros region led to the process of unifying the Median tribes. By 612 BCE, the Medes became strong enough to overthrow the declining Assyrian empire in alliance with the Babylonians. However, contemporary scholarship tends to be skeptical about the existence of a united Median kingdom or state, at least for most of the 7th century BCE.

According to classical historiography, Media emerged as one major power of the ancient Near East after the collapse of Assyria. Under Cyaxares (r. 625–585 BCE), the kingdom's borders were expanded to the east and west through the subjugation of neighboring peoples, such as the Persians and Armenians. Media's territorial expansion led to the formation of the first Iranian empire, which at its height would have exercised authority over more than two million square kilometers, stretching from the eastern banks of the Halys River in Anatolia to Central Asia. In this period, the Median empire was one of the great powers in the ancient Near East alongside Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. During his reign, Astyages (r. 585–550 BCE) worked to strengthen and centralize the Median state, going against the will of tribal nobility, which may have contributed to the kingdom's downfall. In 550 BCE, the Median capital, Ecbatana, was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus II, marking the beginning of the Achaemenid empire.

Ur (/ʊr/ or /ɜːr/) was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar (Arabic: تَلّ ٱلْمُقَيَّر, lit. 'mound of bitumen') in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq. Although Ur was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the site is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. The city dates from the Ubaid period c. 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesannepada.

The city's patron deity was the moon god Nanna (Sin in Akkadian), and the name of the city is derived from UNUG, literally "the abode (of Nanna)". The site is marked by the partially restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC (short chronology), during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon.

Lama, Lamma, or Lamassu (Cuneiform: 𒀭𒆗, an.kal; Sumerian: lammař; later in Akkadian: lamassu; sometimes called a lamassuse) is a Mesopotamian protective deity.

Initially depicted as a goddess in Sumerian times, when it was called Lamma, it was later depicted from Assyrian times as a hybrid of a human, bird, and either a bull or lion—specifically having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings, under the name Lamassu. In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a goddess. A less frequently used name is shedu (Cuneiform: 𒀭𒆘, an.kal×bad; Sumerian: alad; Akkadian, šēdu), which refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu. Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations.

Syllabograms are graphemes used to write the syllables or morae of words. Syllabograms in syllabaries are analogous to letters in alphabets, which represent individual phonemes, or logograms in logographies, which represent morphemes.

Syllabograms in the Maya script most frequently take the form of V (vowel) or CV (consonant-vowel) syllables of which approximately 83 are known. CVC signs are present as well. Two modern well-known examples of syllabaries consisting mostly of CV syllabograms are the Japanese kana, used to represent the same sounds in different occasions. Syllabograms tend not to be used for languages with more complicated syllables: for example English phonotactics allows syllables as complex as CCCVCCCC (as in /ˈstrɛŋkθs/ strengths), generating many thousands of possible syllables and making the use of syllabograms cumbersome.

The Kingdom of Kush (/kʊʃ, kʌʃ/; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 kꜣš, Assyrian: Kûsi, in LXX Χους or Αἰθιοπία; Coptic: ⲉϭⲱϣ Ecōš; Hebrew: כּוּשׁ Kūš), also known as the Kushite Empire, or simply Kush, was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt.

The region of Nubia was an early cradle of civilization, producing several complex societies that engaged in trade and industry. The city-state of Kerma emerged as the dominant political force between 2450 and 1450 BC, controlling the Nile Valley between the first and fourth cataracts, an area as large as Egypt. The Egyptians were the first to identify Kerma as "Kush" probably from the indigenous ethnonym "Kasu", over the next several centuries the two civilizations engaged in intermittent warfare, trade, and cultural exchange.

Nairi (Akkadian: 𒆳𒆳𒈾𒄿𒊑, romanized: mātāt [KUR.KUR] Na-i-ri, lit. 'Nairi lands', also Na-'i-ru; Armenian: Նաիրի) was the Akkadian name for a region inhabited by a particular group (possibly a confederation or league) of tribal principalities in the Armenian Highlands, approximately spanning the area between modern Diyarbakır and Lake Van and the region west of Lake Urmia. Nairi has sometimes been equated with Nihriya, known from Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Urartian sources. However, its co-occurrence with Nihriya within a single text may argue against this.

Prior to the Bronze Age collapse, the Nairi tribes were considered a force strong enough to contend with both Assyria and Hatti. If Nairi and Nihriya are to be identified, then the region was the site of the Battle of Nihriya (c. 1230 BCE), the culminating point of the hostilities between Hittites and Assyrians for control over the remnants of the former kingdom of Mitanni.

The Akkadian Empire (/əˈkeɪdiən/) or kingdom of Akkad/Agade was an ancient kingdom, often thought to be the first known empire, succeeding the long-lived city-states of Sumer. Centered on the city of Akkad (/ˈækæd/ or /ˈɑːkɑːd/) and its surrounding region in modern-day Iraq, the empire united the Semitic Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule and exercised significant influence across Mesopotamia, the Levant, modern-day Iran and Anatolia, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan (modern United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) in the Arabian Peninsula.

Established by Sargon of Akkad after defeating the Sumerian king Lugal-zage-si, it replaced the system of independent Sumero-Akkadian city-states and unified a vast region, stretching from the Mediterranean to Iran and from Anatolia to the Persian Gulf, under a centralized government. Sargon and his successors, especially his grandson Naram-Sin, expanded the empire through military conquest, administrative reforms, and cultural integration. Naram-Sin took the unprecedented step of declaring himself a living god and adopted the title "King of the Four Quarters." The Semitic Akkadian language became the empire’s lingua franca, although Sumerian (a language isolate) remained important in religion and literature. The empire was documented through inscriptions, administrative tablets, and seals, including notable sources like the Bassetki Statue. Enheduanna, Sargon’s daughter, served as high priestess and is recognized as the first known named author in history.

Babylonia (/ˌbæbɪˈloʊniə/; Akkadian: 𒆳𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠, māt Akkadī) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based on the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was retrospectively called "the country of Akkad" (māt Akkadī in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the linguistically related state of Assyria in Upper Mesopotamia, and with Elam to the east. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi (fl. c. 1792–1752 BC middle chronology, or c. 1696–1654 BC, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom centered around the city of Babylon.

Like Assyria, the Babylonian state retained the written Akkadian language for official use, despite its Northwest Semitic-speaking Amorite founders and Kassite successors, who spoke a language isolate. The state retained the Sumerian language in sacred texts for the Babylonian religion, but already by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been replaced by Akkadian. The earlier Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in the descendant Babylonian culture, and the region would remain an important cultural center, even under its protracted periods of outside rule.

Hittite (Hittite cuneiform: 𒌷𒉌𒅆𒇷, romanized: nešili, lit. 'in the language of Neša', or nešumnili lit. 'in the language of the people of Neša'), also known as Nesite (Nešite/Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people of Bronze Age Anatolia who created an empire centered on Hattusa, as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. The language, now long extinct, is attested in cuneiform, in records dating from the 17th (Anitta text) to the 13th centuries BC, with isolated Hittite loanwords and numerous personal names appearing in an Old Assyrian context from as early as the 20th century BC, making it the earliest attested use of the Indo-European languages.

By the Late Bronze Age, Hittite had started losing ground to its close relative Luwian. It appears that Luwian was the most widely spoken language in the Hittite capital of Hattusa during the 13th century BC. After the collapse of the Hittite New Kingdom during the more general Late Bronze Age collapse, Luwian emerged in the early Iron Age as the main language of the so-called Syro-Hittite states, in southwestern Anatolia and northern Syria.

In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ṭuppu(m) 𒁾) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.

Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed (reed pen). Once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these unfired clay tablets could be soaked in water and recycled into new clean tablets. Other tablets, once written, were either deliberately fired in hot kilns, or inadvertently fired when buildings were burnt down by accident or during conflict, making them hard and durable. Collections of these clay documents made up the first archives. They were at the root of the first libraries. Tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East.

Alashiya (Akkadian: 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 Alašiya [a-la-ši-ia]; Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ẢLṮY; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 Alasios [a-ra-si-jo]; Hieratic "'irs3"), also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a major source of goods, especially copper, for ancient Egypt and other states in the Ancient Near East. It is referred to in a number of surviving texts, however its exact location still remains a subject of academic debate and a matter of speculation. In the absence of any concrete scholarly consensus, a variety of locations have been proposed. According to one version Alashiya was situated in either the southeastern coastal part of Anatolia or the northern Levant. An alternate theory places it partially on the island of Cyprus.

The Babylonian astronomical diaries are a collection of Babylonian cuneiform texts written in Akkadian language that contain systematic records of astronomical observations and political events, predictions based on astronomical observations, weather reports, and commodity prices, kept for about 600 years, from around 652 BCE to 61 BCE.

The commodity prices are included for six items (barley, dates, mustard (cuscuta), cress (cardamom), sesame, and wool) for particular dates.

Babylon (/ˈbæbɪlɒn/ BAB-il-on) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Nearby ancient sites are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha.

The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and was neither an independent state nor a large city. Instead, it was subject to the Akkadian Empire. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian Dynasty for a few decades, before the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.

Idalion or Idalium (Greek: Ιδάλιον, Idalion, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤃𐤉𐤋, ʾDYL, Akkadian: e-di-ʾi-il, Edīl) was an ancient city in Cyprus, in modern Dali, Nicosia District. The city was founded on the copper trade in the 3rd millennium BC. Its name does not appear on the Sargon Stele of 707 BC, but does appear on the later Prism of Esarhaddon [nl] (copies of the text dated to 673–672 BC) and in similar spellings in Ashurbanipal's annal (648/647 BC).

Recent excavations have uncovered major buildings on the site which are open to visitors. A new museum is at the entrance of the site.

The ancient Aramaic alphabet was used to write the Aramaic languages spoken by ancient Aramean pre-Christian peoples throughout the Fertile Crescent. It was also adopted by other peoples as their own alphabet when empires and their subjects underwent linguistic Aramaization during a language shift for governing purposes — a precursor to Arabization centuries later — including among the Assyrians and Babylonians who permanently replaced their Akkadian language and its cuneiform script with Aramaic and its script, and among Jews, but not Samaritans, who adopted the Aramaic language as their vernacular and started using the Aramaic alphabet, which they call "Square Script", even for writing Hebrew, displacing the former Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. The modern Hebrew alphabet derives from the Aramaic alphabet, in contrast to the modern Samaritan alphabet, which derives from Paleo-Hebrew.

The letters in the Aramaic alphabet all represent consonants, some of which are also used as matres lectionis to indicate long vowels. Writing systems, like the Aramaic, that indicate consonants but do not indicate most vowels other than by means of matres lectionis or added diacritical signs, have been called abjads by Peter T. Daniels to distinguish them from alphabets such as the Greek alphabet, that represent vowels more systematically. The term was coined to avoid the notion that a writing system that represents sounds must be either a syllabary or an alphabet, which would imply that a system like Aramaic must be either a syllabary, as argued by Ignace Gelb, or an incomplete or deficient alphabet, as most other writers had said before Daniels. Daniels put forward that this is a different type of writing system, intermediate between syllabaries and 'full' alphabets.