04-25-2007, 12:45 PM
I know that by the 7th c. BC Aramaic had replaced Akkadian as the vernacular of the Assyrian Empire.
Akkadian was spoken throughout Mesopotamia since before the beginning of the 2nd millenium BC, replacing spoken Sumerian in all areas somewhere around 2000. It was also used as the lingua franca for diplomacy and trade; hence, letters between Hittite monarchs and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II were written in Akkadian. I know less about Aramaic.
Akkadian was spoken throughout Mesopotamia since before the beginning of the 2nd millenium BC, replacing spoken Sumerian in all areas somewhere around 2000. It was also used as the lingua franca for diplomacy and trade; hence, letters between Hittite monarchs and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II were written in Akkadian. I know less about Aramaic.
Dan Diffendale
Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan
Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan
