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AKKADEMY
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
The world's first civilization
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
CLAY TABLET AND ENVELOPE
Used in transferring Knowledge 4500 years ago
The AKKADIAN
language
(lišānum akkadītum)
was a Semitic language
(part of the greater AfroAsiatic 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),StoutHearted 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.
Akkadian has been for centuries the international medium of communication, the
lingua franca or language of diplomacy in the Ancient Near East. Because of this
(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
Bible and in Greek civilization. The Occident, in several aspects, indirectly became
heir to the Orient, in science (astronomy, mathematics, medicine), in art (narrative
techniques, epic) and in religion (mythology, theology). Indeed, in classical
terminology one could say: Ex oriente lux ''the light (comes) from the east''
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).
Click this link to find full text: http://www.language-museum.com/a/akkadian-cuneiform.php
Akkadian dialects
Akkadian (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.
Section from Chapt. 5 of John Heise's 'Akkadian language', about Akkadian dialects: Babylonian and Assyrian
Akkadian dialects
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
Old Akkadian (OAkk) 2500-1950
Old
Babylonian
O
B
19501530
Old
Assyrian
O
A
Middle
Babylonian
M
B
15301000
Middle
Assyrian
M
A
New
Babylonian
N
B
1000625
New
Assyrian
N
A
Late
Babylonian
L
B
625-0
Standard Babylonian (SB) 1500-0
Click this link to find full text: http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/ and http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/books.html#assyriology
19501750
15001000
1000600
Ancient History Sourcebook: The Advice of an Akkadian Father to His Son, c. 2200 BCE
Do 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