Introductory Akkadian I

Harvard FAS

An introduction to the Semitic language of Akkadian, primarily through the Old Babylonian dialect and cuneiform writing system as used during the time of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE). Students learn the fundamentals of grammar and the writing system, as well as the most common cuneiform signs in official and cursive script. Readings span a variety of genres, including private letters, judicial documents, literary and religious texts, divinatory compendia, legal code, and royal inscriptions. The…