Akkadian is divided into several varieties based on geography and historical period:
- Old Akkadian — 2500 – 1950 BC
- Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian — 1950 – 1530 BC
- Middle Babylonian/Middle Assyrian — 1530 – 1000 BC
- Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian — 1000 – 600 BC
- Late Babylonian — 600 BC – 100 AD
The Akkadian Empire established by Sargon I introduced the Akkadian language (the "language of Akkad")
as a written language, adapting Sumerian cuneiform orthography for the purpose. During the Middle Bronze Age Old Assyrian
and Old Babylonian period, the language virtually displaced Sumerian, which is assumed to have been extinct as a living language
by the 18th century BCE.
Middle Assyrian served as a lingua franca in much of the Ancient Near East of the Late Bronze
Age (Amarna period). During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Assyrian began to turn into a chancellary language, being marginalized
by Old Aramaic. Under the Achaemenids, Aramaic continued to prosper, but Assyrian continued its decline, with a brief revival
under the Chaldean Empire. The language's final demise came about during the Hellenistic period when it was further marginalized
by Koine Greek, although Neo-Assyrian cuneiform remained in use in literary tradition well into Parthian times. The latest
known text in cuneiform Babylonian is an astronomical text dated to CE 75. After this, the language and its literary tradition
was forgotten until the decipherment of cuneiform in the 1850s.
