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.
[sha] [ni] [ish] [shanish] 'secondly', 'once again', 'variant',
(a word the ancient scribes used to mark another version)
This variant now with a bird's eye view on Mesopotamia and its history (4th, 3rd millennium so far).
Last change Feb 17 1996, see [ What's new], [ Prefatory notes]
Quick to the chapters [Index] [ Intro] [ Mesopotamia] [ Texts] [ Cuneiform] [ Language] [ Books] [ Links]
[TITLE]
[Title caption, a mini course in Akkadian cuneiform]

the Akkadian language

[4star award] Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform texts, an introduction collected by John Heise.

These pages should run well with Netscape, but may give problems with other browsers (I am using TABLEs). Cuneiform signs in the text are loaded as .gif-image files, it may take some time!
File format in postscript (.ps-files) should be readable using ghostview, and are printable on a printer accepting postscript.
Transliteration conventions:
', the apostrophe for the semitic letter aleph, a stop as one hears in pronouncing quickly a series of short vowels: 'a'a'a'a'a'a'a
'sh' for the semitic letter shin sh (sh as twice in 'shashlick')
'T' for the semitic letter teth (emphatic t, usually written with a dot under the t)
'S' or 'sc' for the semitic letter tsadeh (emphatic s, usually written with a dot under the s)
Vowels with a bar on top (macron, like ) stand for the long vowels. They will in my texts be represented by the Umlaut sign ä (long a), ë (long e), ï (long i), ü (long u).

Table of Contents, the chapters

  1. Akkadian, a great cultural language of world history, an introduction
  2. Mesopotamia
    1. Introduction
    2. Prehistory in Mesopotamia
    3. Protohistory in Mesopotamia
    4. History of the Bronze Age in Mesopotamia
    5. History of the Iron Age in Mesopotamia
      • New Assyrian period, New Babylonian empire
  3. sample texts in cuneiform
    1. Babylonian epic of creation, Enuma elish, tablet I
      1. cuneiform text and transliteration (.ps-format, 8 pages)
        or in .gif-images
      2. About the epic of creation (to be written)
      3. first few lines explained in detail
      4. translation of tablet I
      5. other translation of all tablets
    2. Codex Hammurabi, prologue
      1. first few lines explained in detail
  4. cuneiform writing system
    1. origin
      1. three dimensional clay tokens, 2. pictograms
    2. clay tablets
    3. physical appearance of cuneiform signs
    4. value of cuneiform signs
      1. phonogram, 2. logogram, 3. determinative, 4. phonetic complement.
    5. cuneiform sign lists
    6. cuneiform fonts for use in TeX and LaTeX
  5. Akkadian language
    1. introduction (to be written)
    2. Semitic languages
    3. Akkadian dialects
    4. Akkadian grammar
  6. Akkadian dictionaries (to be completed)
    1. CAD, Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
    2. AHw, Akkadisches handwörterbuch
    3. vocabularies
      1. Akkadian vocabulary (in Dutch)
  • Book references
    1. Assyriology. 2. Mesopotamian history. 3. Akkadian grammar. 4. Cuneiform sign lists. 5. Translations. 6. Stories about the decipherment. 7. Cuneiform texts transcriptions for educational purposes. 8. Cuneiform texts only 9. Books with nice pictures 10.Exact sciences.
  • Some external links
    1. All about internet resources Ancient Middle East.
    2. About cuneiform texts. 3. language relations. 4. Babylonian history. 5. Images of cuneiform tablets. 6. Exact sciences. 7. Mythology. 8. Institutes. 9. Museums. 10. Libraries. 11. Archeology. 12. Maps and Countries of the Middle East. 13. Related material.
    These pages are under (slow) development.
    Part of a colophon like the ancient scribes would sometimes give:

    Maintained and updated by: j.heise @ sron . ruu . nl,