Assyriology B

During the second semester of studies in Assyriology, we build on and deepen our knowledge of societies, cultures, writing and language in the ancient Near East in four different modules. Cuneiform was used over time to write a dozen different languages, and Sumerian is the oldest written language we know. We read about ten inscriptions, mainly on stone objects. Further knowledge of Akkadian comes from reading one or more texts written in Standard Babylonian, of a historical or literary kind. This dialect attests to certain developments in the Akkadian language, which takes place after the time of Hammurapi, some of whose inscriptions were studied during the previous semester.