Language > Akkadian
Akkadian
Background
Akkadian was the predominant language of the Akkadian Empire and began to replace the spoken Sumerian language around 2200 BC when the conqueror Sargon the Great established the worlds first known empire.
The Sumerian spoken language was used among academics, scholars, religious figures and other intellectuals. The written language of Sumer was known as Cuneiform and was used as the literary, scholarly and scientific language in all of Mesopotamia until around 1000 CE.
Akkadian and Sumerian languages would develop into the first known bilingual system in the world and both languages would be used throughout the Assyrian Empire until most of Asia and Mesopotamia adopted the easy to use Aramaic language under the Achaemenid Empire.
