Babylonian dialect

Akkadian dialect

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June 17, 2026

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Akkadian was a Semitic language spoken in Mesopotamia from the 3rd to the 1st millennium BCE. It was written in a cuneiform script. By 2000 BCE, Akkadian had replaced Sumerian as the spoken language in southern Mesopotamia, though Sumerian remained in use for sacred texts.1

Around 2000 BCE, Akkadian split into two main dialects:
* Assyrian dialect: Spoken in northern Mesopotamia.1
* Babylonian dialect: Spoken in southern Mesopotamia.1

The Babylonian dialect eventually became the lingua franca of the Middle East. By the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, Aramaic began to replace Babylonian, and Akkadian eventually died out by the 1st century CE. Scholars deciphered Akkadian in the 19th century.1

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Akkadian language
…in northern Mesopotamia, and the Babylonian dialect, spoken in southern Mesopotamia. At first the Assyrian dialect was used more extensively, but Babylonian largely supplanted it and became the lingua franca of the Middle East by the 9th century bce. During the 7th and 6th centuries bce, Aramaic gradually began to…
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…in northern Mesopotamia, and the Babylonian dialect, spoken in southern Mesopotamia. At first the Assyrian dialect was used more extensively, but Babylonian largely supplanted it and became the lingua franca of the Middle East by the 9th century bce. During the 7th and 6th centuries bce, Aramaic gradually began to…
Read More