Akkadian, comprising the Babylonian, Assyrian and Old Akkadian dialects, is the earliest known Semitic language, attested from the middle of the 3rd millenium B.C. until the time of Christ. It was widely adopted in the ancient Near East as a written vehicle for scholarship, literature, legal and diplomatic affairs. It is the language of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Code of Hammurapi, the inscriptions of the kings of Assyria and Babylonia and countless legal and administrative documents.

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