Better Training atAKKADEMY

The origin of the English word “ACADEMY” from the ancient Akkadian civilization that introduced educational methods

Akkadian history and culture (4500 years ago)The Akkadians were Semitic people living on the now Arabic peninsula during the great flourishing period of the Sumerian city-states. In 2340 BC, their leader Sargon conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the now Middle East area. The city of Akkad, its capital, which later became the city of Babylon was the commercial and cultural center of the Middle East for almost two thousand years.

Here follows a brief presentation about the AKKADIAN history

By the 5000's B.C., many people had settled in villages in the lower part of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, an area later called Sumer. The Sumerians lived by farming, fishing, and hunting the wild fowl of the river marshes. They built dikes to control the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and irrigation canals for their fields.

By about 3500 B.C., some Sumerian farm villages had grown into small cities, which marked the beginning of the world's first civilization. A number of these cities developed into powerful city-states by about 3200 B.C. The Sumerians produced one of the greatest achievements in world history. By about 3500 B.C., they had invented the first form of writing. It consisted of picture like symbols scratched into clay. The symbols were later simplified to produce cuneiform, a system of writing that used wedge-shaped characters.

Archaeologists have found thousands of clay tablets with Sumerian writings. These tablets show the high level of development of the Sumerian culture. They include historical and legal documents; letters; economic records; literary and religious texts; and studies in mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The Sumerians used baked bricks to build great palaces and towering temples called ziggurats in their cities. They believed that their gods lived on the tops of the ziggurats. Sumerian craftworkers produced board games, beautifully designed jewellery, metalware, musical instruments, decorative pottery, and stone seals engraved with pictures and text.

The Sumerians invented the potter's wheel and were among the first people to brew beer and make glass. Their system of counting in units of 60 is the basis of the 360-degree circle and the 60-minute hour. For more information on the Sumerian civilization, see SUMER. The Sumerian city-states had no central government or unified army and continually struggled among themselves for power. Soon, they were increasingly threatened by neighboring Semitic peoples, who were attracted by the growing wealth of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.

During the 2300's B.C., a Semitic king, Sargon of Akkad, conquered Sumer. Sargon united all Mesopotamia under his rule, creating the world's first empire. The Akkadians combined Sumerian civilization with their own culture. Their rule lasted more than 60 years.

Hammurabi, who ruled from about 1792 to 1750 B.C, developed one of the first law codes in history. The famous Code of Hammurabi contained nearly 300 legal provisions including many Sumerian and Akkadian laws. It covered such matters as divorce, false accusation, land and business regulations, and military service.

Source: http://www.textfiles.com/reports/ACE/world.txt

The world's first civilization

CLAY TABLET AND ENVELOPEUsed in transferring Knowledge 4500 years ago

The AKKADIAN language

(lišānum akkadītum)

was a Semitic language (part of the greater

Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient

Mesopotamia, particularly by the

Assyrians and Babylonians.

It used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated, non-Semitic language.

The name of the language is derived from

the city of Akkad, a major center of the

Mesopotamian civilization. GilgameshTablet.jpg

PLAQUE SHOWING A HARPIST

Iraq: Ishchali (?) Isin-Larsa / Old Babylonian Period, ca. 2000-1600 B.C. Baked clay 12.3 cm H, 7.7 cm W Purchased in Baghdad, 1930 OIM A9345

Harps are known from the earliest period of written history, but the fringed robe and close-fitting cap of this harpist are typical for the early second millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia. Clay plaques from this period depict musicians playing a variety of stringed, percussion, and wind instruments. The casting of plaques was a simple and inexpensive way to produce relief images, since numerous plaques could be made from a single mold.

The Concept Of Personal God(dess) In Enheduana's Hymns to Inanna

Enheduana is becoming known today as the first named author in all of world literature. She is credited by many as having written and compiled what is known as The Sumerian Temple Hymns, consisting of 42 hymns to the temples of Sumer and Akkad as well as a hymnal cycle to the goddess Inanna: 1) in-nin-me-hus-a,(INM), The Myth of Inanna and Ebih, 2) in-nin-sa-gur-ra, (INS),Stout-Hearted Lady, and 3) nin-me-sar-ra,(NMS), Lady of all the Me’s, which is her most famous poem. In addition, Joan Westenholz has also credited her as having written two hymns to the moon god, Nanna.

We believe that Enheduana’s hymns were politically motivated to support the imperialistic ambitions of her father, King Sargon, who’s unparalleled control of Sumer and Akkad had known no predecessor and that her installation by Sargon as en-priestess of Nanna at Ur was also a political strategy.

Some scholars who question Enheduana’s authorship of these hymns, like Miguel Civil, stating that there is no solid evidence- and especially since most Sumerian literature was anonymous. Those who disagree with Adam Falkenstein who was the first to identify the title ’en-hedu-Ana’ in the poem nin-me-sarra as positive identification of Enheduanna herself [Falkenstein, 1954] state that the title ’en-hedu-Ana’ was a generic epithet for Inanna or for Dumuzi.

Then there is Annette Zgoll’s [Zgoll, 1997] newest research in which she adds to the work of Hallo and Van Dijk and many others who acknowledge Enheduana as the author based on many historical references in the poem nin-me-sarra that refer to actual events which occurred during Naram Sin’s, reign and during Enheduana’s later years as en-priestess of Nanna. There are also stylistic reasons for grouping these hymns together as being written by the same person in addition to a few other “Inanna hymns”. It will never be possible to definitively prove or disprove authorship of compositions written over 4,000 years ago!

We will begin from the standpoint that Enheduana is the author and I will focus on the skill and complexity of her writing, specifically in the cycle of hymns to the goddess Inanna. As an example of late, third millenium Sumerian poetry, this cycle reveals a highly sophisticated literary style which interweaves the concept of the personal god/dess into the political/religious dimension.

Click this link to find full text: http://www.angelfire.com/mi/enheduanna/Enhedwriting.html

EN HEDU'ANNA priestess of the Moon Goddess (circa 2354 BCE)

Hers is the first female name recorded in technical history. She was the daughter of Sargon (of Akkad) who established the Sargonian Dynasty in Babylon some 4000 or so years ago. He appointed her the chief

astronomer priestess of the moon goddess of the city. Her name means 'ornament of heaven'; her birth name is unknown. This was a position of great power and prestige. Only through the auspices of the high priestess

could a leader achieve a legitimate claim to rule. We have no technical writings from her. We do have in translation forty-two of her poems. A bas-relief of her is at the University Museum in Philadelphia. The home

page shows the tablet of her most famous poem 'Exultation of Inanna'. To put her into perspective, modern astronomy and mathematics follow an almost continuous line of effort

from Sumeria forward to the present. It began there - with the priests and priestesses in Sumeria and Babylon. As early as 3000 BCE these sacred temples in Sumer were complex structures that directed every essential activity of life including trade, farming and crafts. The priests and priestesses established a network of observatories to monitor the movements of the stars. The calendar they created is still used to date certain

religious events like Easter and Passover. En Hedu'anna is last in the long line of women who followed the stars and the cycles of the Moon and whose

names are lost to us. She is the first in a long line of women whose names we know - the women who thought, created and built for the past 4000 years.

Click this link to find full text: http://www.angelfire.com/mi/enheduanna/index.html and http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/EN.html

Mesopotamia

The original Mesopotamian writing system was initially derived from a system of clay tokens

used to represent commodities. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, using imprints of

a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term cuneiform), at first only for numbers, and finally a general purpose writing system, initially used to represent Sumerian. This

writing system was originally a logographic writing system, but had begun to evolve

phonetic elements by the 29th century BC. By the 26th century BC, this script had been

adapted to another Mesopotamian language, Akkadan , and from there to others such as

Hurrian, and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include

those for Ugaritic and Old Persian.Cuneiform script tablet dating to ca. 2400 BC, from the Kirkor

Minassian collection, acquired by the Library of Congress in the 1920s and 1930s

Home page (DUB.E = tuppi bitim, 'home clay tablet') 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.

a mini course in Akkadian cuneiform click here to see

http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/title.html the Akkadian language Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform texts, an introduction collected by John Heise.

Akkadian is one of the great cultural languages of world history. Akkadian (or Babylonian-Assyrian) is the collective name for the spoken languages of the culture in the three millennia BCE in Mesopotamia, the area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, approx. covering modern Irak. The name Akkadian --so called in ancient time-- is derived from the city-state of Akkad, founded in the middle of the third millennium BCE and capital of one of the first great empires after the dawn of human history. The downfall of Akkad is described (in literary terms) in the curse of Akkad, but the name has continued to be used for millennia since.

Akkadian is first attested to in proper names in Sumerian texts (ca. 2800 BCE). From ca. 2500 BCE one finds texts fully written in Akkadian. Hundreds of thousands of texts and text fragments have been excavated, covering many subjects, e.g. -economy (business, administrative records, purchase and rentals),-politics (treaties), -law (witnessed and sealed contracts of marriage, divorce; codes of law), -history (chronological text, census reports),-letters (personal, business and state letters), -religion (prayers, hymns, omens, divination reports), -scholarly texts (language, word lists, history, technology, mathematics, astronomy) and -literature (narrative poetry, recounting myths, epics).The last texts date from the first century A.D. By then Akkadian was already an extinct language, replaced as a spoken language by Aramaic.

The language used a writing system called cuneiform. Wedge shaped symbols were inscribed on clay tablets with a reed stylus. This writing system was invented by the Sumerians around the end of the fourth millennium BCE. Many neighboring countries later adopted this writing method to record their own language (Eblaites, Hittites, Hurrites, Elamites).

Akkadian has been for centuries the international medium of communication, the Akkadian has been for centuries the international medium of communication, the lingua francalingua franca or language of diplomacy in the Ancient Near East. Because of this or language of diplomacy in the Ancient Near East. Because of this (and also by other means) the Mesopotamian civilization has had a powerful (and also by other means) the Mesopotamian civilization has had a powerful influence on other areas in the Ancient Near East and traces of it are found in the influence on other areas in the Ancient Near East and traces of it are found in the Bible and in Greek civilization. The Occident, in several aspects, indirectly became Bible and in Greek civilization. The Occident, in several aspects, indirectly became heir to the Orient, in science (astronomy, mathematics, medicine), in art (narrative heir to the Orient, in science (astronomy, mathematics, medicine), in art (narrative techniques, epic) and in religion (mythology, theology). Indeed, in classical techniques, epic) and in religion (mythology, theology). Indeed, in classical terminology one could say: terminology one could say: Ex oriente luxEx oriente lux ''the light (comes) from the east'' ''the light (comes) from the east''

Click this link to find full text: http://www.language-museum.com/a/akkadian-cuneiform.php

Section from Chapt. 5 of John Heise's 'Akkadian language', about Akkadian dialects: Babylonian and Assyrian

Akkadian dialectsAkkadian (or Babylonian-Assyrian) is the collective name for the Semitic dialects spoken in the three millenia BC in Mesopotamia. The name Akkadian --so called in ancient time-- is derived from the city-state of Akkad, founded in the middle of the third millenium BC and capital of one of the first great empires at the dawn of human history. Old Akkadian. Akkadian is first attested in proper names in Sumerian texts (ca. 2800 BC). From ca. 2500 BC one finds texts fully written in Akkadian. The language attested in documents of the third millenium is called Old Akkadian. It is the language spoken in the central parts of Mesopotamia (the city Akkad is near present day Bagdad). The number of tablets in Old Akkadian is not very large. Most scholars in those days did not write in their native language, but in Sumerian, which at that time was the lingua franca and medium of communication between scholars. The Old Akkadian language period is at its height when Sargon the Great (2350-2330) ruled over Akkad and most of the surrounding city-states, the first empire with a central gouvernment. It ends with the downfall of the Ur-III period (the 3rd dynasty of Ur). Babylonian and Assyrian dialects. After the third millenium a geographical differentiation become apparant from tablets dated in the second millenium. The language from the southern part of Mesopotamia is called Babylonian, whereas the northern dialect is called Assyrian. Both main streams of dialects develop in the course of time and are indicated as Old, Middle, New or Late. In several remote parts of the country other dialects existed influenced by other languages, e.g. the western semitic languages in the west part of the country.

Akkadian dialects

Old Akkadian (OAkk) 2500-1950

Old Babylonian

OB

1950-1530

Old Assyrian

OA

1950-1750

Middle Babylonian

MB

1530-1000

Middle Assyrian

MA

1500-1000

New Babylonian

NB

1000-625

New Assyrian

NA

1000-600

Late Babylonian

LB

625-0

Standard Babylonian (SB) 1500-0

Standard Babylonian. In addition to these dialects (e.g. reflected in letters, contracts) an artificial language developed. It was in use for certain kind of (literary) documents, both by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, since the cultural exchange was large. This language is called Standard Babylonian and is modelled on the Old Babylonian dialect.

Maintained and updated by John Heise   lu2.shab.tur shumallû 'pupil'first installation (version 0.0) on jan 6, 1995 last modification on Feb 10, 1996

Click this link to find full text: http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/ and http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/books.html#assyriology

Ancient History Sourcebook: The Advice of an Akkadian Father to His Son, c. 2200 BCEDo not set out to stand around in the assembly. Do not loiter where there is a dispute, for in the dispute they will have you as an observer. Then you will be made a witness for them, and they will involve you in a lawsuit to affirm something that does not concern you. In case of a dispute, get away from it, disregard it! If a dispute involving you should flare up, calm it down. A dispute is a covered pit, a wall which can cover over its foes; it brings to mind what one has forgotten and makes an accusation against a man. Do not return evil to your adversary; requite with kindness the one who does evil to you, maintain justice for your enemy, be friendly to your enemy.

Give food to eat, beer to drink, grant what is requested, provide for and treat with honor. At this one's god takes pleasure. It is pleasing to Shamash, who will repay him with favor. Do good things, be kind all your days. Do not honor a slave girl in your house; she should not rule your bedroom like a wife, do not give yourself over to slave girls....Let this be said among your people: "The household which a slave girl rules, she disrupts." Do not marry a prostitute, whose husbands are legion, an Ishtar-woman who is dedicated to a god, a kulmashitu-woman. . . .When you have trouble, she will not support you, when you have a dispute she will be a mocker. There is no reverence or submissiveness in her. Even if she is powerful in the household, get rid of her, for she pricks up her ears for the footsteps of another.

My son, if it be the wish of a ruler that you belong to him, if you are entrusted with his closely guarded seal, open his treasure house and enter it, for no one but you may do it. Uncounted wealth you will find inside, but do not covet any of that, nor set your mind on a secret crime, for afterwards the matter will be investigated and the secret crime which you committed will be exposed. Do not speak ill, speak only good. Do not say evil things, speak well of people. He who speaks ill and says evil---people will waylay him because of his debt to Shamash. Do not talk too freely, watch what you say. Do not express your innermost thoughts even when you are alone. What you say in haste you may regret later. Exert yourself to restrain your speech.

Worship your god every day. Sacrifice and pious utterance are the proper accompaniment of incense. Have a freewill offering for your god, for this is proper toward a god. Prayer, supplication, and prostration offer him daily, then your prayer will be granted, and you will be in harmony with god.

Source: Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg has modernized the text.This text is part of the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history