Akkadian—the umbrella term for Babylonian and Assyrian—is an ancient but well-understood Semitic language (or group of languages) with a documented history of more than two thousand years. It was normally written in the cuneiform script and offers a dizzying array of written sources, more of which appear by the year.Akkadian comprised four main varieties, often referred to as “dialects.” In the 3rd millennium bce, these were Eblaite (attested at the city of Ebla, in Syria) and Old Akkadian (attested in writings from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad). In the second and first millennia bce, these were Babylonian and Assyrian (with their various subvarieties): Old Babylonian/Assyrian c. 1900–1500bce, Middle Babylonian/Assyrian c. 1500–1000, and Neo-Babylonian and Assyrian in the first millennium (Neo-Assyrian only until c. 600bce). Vernacular Babylonian of the later first millennium is sometimes called Late Babylonian.“Standard Babylonian” is the language of poetry in the first millennium .
