Akkadian Empire Historical state in Mesopotamia Coordinates: 33°6′N 44°6′E / 33.100°N 44.100°E / 33.100; 44.100 During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.[5] Akkadian, an East Semitic language,[6] gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate).[7] The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad.[8] Under Sargon and his successors, the Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam and Gutium. After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, the people of Mesopotamia eventually coalesced into two major Akkadian-speaking nations: Assyria in the north, and, a few centuries later, Babylonia in the south. History of research[edit] Dating and periodization[edit] Sargon of Akkad[edit]
Cuneiform script Old writing system used for many languages, including Akkadian and Hittite Emerging in Sumer in the late fourth millennium BC (the Uruk IV period) to convey the Sumerian language, which was a language isolate, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms, stemming from an earlier system of shaped tokens used for accounting. In the third millennium, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use grew smaller (Hittite cuneiform). The system consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic, and syllabic signs. The original Sumerian script was adapted for the writing of the Semitic Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian), Eblaite and Amorite languages, the language isolates Elamite, Hattic, Hurrian and Urartian, as well as Indo-European languages Hittite and Luwian; it inspired the later Semitic Ugaritic alphabet as well as Old Persian cuneiform. History[edit] Pictographic and proto-cuneiform characters[edit] Decipherment[edit]
Mesopotamia Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia Mesopotamia (from the Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία: "[land] between rivers"; Arabic: بلاد الرافدين (bilād al-rāfidayn); Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ (Beth Nahrain): "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, the northeastern section of Syria and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization in the West, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. Etymology Geography History Periodization Literature
Marduk National god of the Babylonians Marduk (Cuneiform: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: amar utu.k "calf of the sun; solar calf"; Hebrew: מְרֹדַךְ, Modern: Merōdaḵ, Tiberian: Mərōḏaḵ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon who eventually rose to power in the First Millennium BCE. In the city of Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu. By the 1st millennium BCE, Marduk had become astrologically associated with the planet Jupiter. Name[edit] The name of Marduk was solely spelled as dAMAR.UTU in the Old Babylonian Period, although other spellings such as MES and dŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or Marutuk, with the shortened spelling Martuk or Marduk attested starting from the Kassite period. lu-ú ma-ru Šamši ša ilāni né-bu-ú šu-ma "He is the "son of the sun" of the gods, radiant is he[a]." History[edit]
Assyrian people Assyrian people (Syriac: ܐܫܘܪܝܐ), or Syriacs[37] (see terms for Syriac Christians), are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East.[38][39] Some of them self-identify as Arameans,[40] or as Chaldeans.[41] They speak East Aramaic languages as well as the primary languages in their countries of residence.[42] The Assyrians are typically Syriac Christians who claim descent from Assyria, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, dating back to 2500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.[43] Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syrian liturgical rites of Christianity.[48] The churches that constitute the East Syrian rite include the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Chaldean Catholic Church, whereas the churches of the West Syrian rite are the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church. Both rites use Classical Syriac as their liturgical language. History Pre-Christian history Language Early Christian period Arab conquest Culture
List of Mesopotamian deities Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia and its major cities relative to modern landmarks Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, but that a god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history. The Anunnaki are a group of deities first attested during the reign of Gudea (c. 2144 – 2124 BC) and the Third Dynasty of Ur. Triad of Heaven[edit] The three most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon during all periods were the gods An, Enlil, and Enki. Seven planetary deities[edit] Primordial beings[edit] Various civilizations over the course of Mesopotamian history had many different creation stories. Other major deities[edit] Minor deities[edit] Foreign deities in Mesopotamia[edit] See also[edit]
East Semitic languages Approximate historical distribution of Semitic languages. East Semitic in green. The East Semitic languages are one of six divisions of the Semitic languages. The East Semitic group is attested by two distinct languages, Akkadian and Eblaite, both of which have been long extinct. They stand apart from other Semitic languages, traditionally called West Semitic, in a number of respects. Historically, it is believed that this linguistic situation came about as speakers of East Semitic languages wandered further east, settling in Mesopotamia during the third millennium BCE, as attested by Akkadian texts from this period. The word order in East Semitic may also have been influenced by Sumerian, being subject–object–verb rather than the West Semitic verb–subject–object order. Jump up ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). Huehnergard, J. 1995.
Ashur Ashur (אַשּׁוּר) was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The Ge'ez version of the Book of Jubilees, affirmed by the 15 Jubilees scrolls found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, affirms that the contested lands in Genesis 10:8–12 were apportioned to Ashur.[3] Jubilees 9:3 states, "And for Ashur came forth the second Portion, all the land of Ashur and Nineveh and Shinar and to the border of India, and it ascends and skirts the river. The 1st century Judaeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus also gives the following statement: "Ashur lived at the city of Nineveh; and named his subjects Assyrians, who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others" (Antiquities, i, vi, 4). Ashur, father of Tekoa[edit] Wives[edit] Helah was the first wife of Ashur and Naarah was his second wife. See also[edit] References[edit]