𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑 Akkadian
Akkadian is the major written language of ancient Mesopotamia, preserved on thousands of cuneiform tablets. Studying it opens direct access to law codes, royal inscriptions, letters, and epics from Assyria and Babylonia.
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Typing help
Cuneiform input is usually done by copy/paste or with dedicated tools. Many learners rely on sign lists rather than typing directly.
Dictionaries
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- Notes: A massive collection.
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- Notes: An online resource.
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Provisional Dictionary of Old Babylonian Akkadian
- Notes: With clickable buttons for character entry.
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A Conciser Dictionary of Akkadian
- Format: TXT
- Notes: In .txt format.
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- Notes: Part of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Downloads of many older books.
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- Notes: Quite a long list, actually.
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- Notes: A list of Akkadian signs; site is in French.
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Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian
- Format: PDF
- Notes: A wordlist.
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Glossary of 1000 Old Babylonian words
- Notes: Other resources are on this page, as well.
Grammars
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Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar
- Format: PDF
- Notes: A textbook that is not that old. A very good resource.
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- Format: PDF
- Notes: About 30 pages of text which cover may different grammar topics.
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- Notes: Not fully comprehensive, but has explanations of many grammatical concepts and is easy to navigate.
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- Notes: Very useful, and can be made into a different file format easily.
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- Notes: Some introduction to the linguistics of Akkadian.
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- Format: Video
- Notes: No you can’t, actually, but you’ll be able to write a few words at least after watching these videos.
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Introductory course for Old Babylonian
- Notes: Some great resources online for learning this middle-period dialect.
Charts & Aids
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- Notes: A few different lists.
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- Notes: A helpful set of steps with links to different books and print resources.
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- Format: PDF
- Notes: A PDF file.
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- Notes: Scroll down for nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verb charts. Yay!
Texts
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Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
- Notes: Links to many different holdings of cuneiform items.
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- Notes: Not the guy who sings the song from that Batman movie—better! Sources of Early Akkadian Literature. An online resource for viewing many different texts. A wonderful collection!
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- Notes: A database which is hard to navigate if you’re not already familiar with the material.
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- Format: PDF
- Notes: In PDF format.
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- Format: PS
- Notes: In .ps format.
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Translations of Ancient Babylonian Texts
- Notes: Scroll to the bottom to get to the translations. Also has some basic information about the culture.
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- Format: PDF
- Notes: Some translated texts.
Other Resources
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- Format: PDF
- Notes: Mentally prepare yourself before opening this one.
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Babylonian and Assyrian: A History of Akkadian
- Format: PDF
- Notes: A very good, long article on the history of Akkadian
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Bibliography of Urkesh and the Hurrians
- Notes: A collection of many resources related to the area.
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- Notes: Assorted topics of culture and history. Scroll to the bottom to see them.
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- Notes: An online repository of information on the Akkadians.
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- Notes: See also the upcoming Akkad: Live in Vegas show.
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A Bird’s Eye View of Mesopotamia
- Notes: Gives information on mythology, geography, people, and other items.
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Phonological Representation in Akkadian Orthography
- Format: PDF
- Notes: A short, interesting discussion of the phonology of Akkadian and some of the shortcomings of the Sumerian script.
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Cuneiform Digital Library Journal
- Notes: An online journal with many articles.
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Mesopotomia at the British Museum
- Notes: A nice online presentation.
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