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Archibald Henry Sayce (1845-1933) became interested in Middle Eastern languages and scripts while still a teenager. Old Persian and Akkadian cuneiform had recently been deciphered, and at the same time Indo-European studies had emerged as a lively field, with publications by scholars including Grimm, Bopp and Schleicher. Assyrian offered opportunities to historians of the Semitic languages similar to those provided by Avestan to Indo-Europeanists, and Sayce's grammar, published in 1872, was aimed at such an audience. Only transliteration was used, as cuneiform would be both expensive and redundant for philological purposes. In his preface, Sayce acknowledges the recent work of Oppert, Hincks, and Smith (whose translation of part of the epic tale of Gilgamesh attracted considerable publicity later that year). Sayce considers the place of Assyrian in the Semitic language family and its development over time, and reviews the archaeological evidence and scholarly literature, before presenting its phonology, morphology, syntax and prosody.

Akkadian language --- Grammar.

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Hittite culture of the second millennium B.C.E. was strongly influenced by Mesopotamian culture, in part through the mediation of the peripheral cuneiform civilizations of northern Syria, in part through direct contact with Babylonia and Assyria. The text edited here (CTH 718) presents an extreme example of this cultural impact, featuring incantations in the Akkadian language (Hittite babilili) embedded within a ceremony set forth in the Hittite tongue. This ritual program has therefore become known to scholars as the “babilili-ritual.”With almost 400 preserved lines, this ceremony is one of the longest religious compositions recovered from the Hittite capital, and there are indications that a significant additional portion has been lost. The divine figure to whom the rite is addressed is Pirinkir, a variety of the well-known Ishtar of Mesopotamia. Its purpose seems to be the elimination of the sins of a member of the royal family.Many of the ritual activities and offering materials employed here are characteristic of the cult practice of the Classical Cilician region known as Kizzuwatna, which was introduced into the central Hittite realm during the final two centuries of the state’s existence. Nonetheless, the Akkadian of the incantations is neither the Akkadian employed in the Hurrian-influenced area of Syria and eastern Anatolia nor that otherwise known from the Hittite royal archives; rather, it is closer to the language of the later Old Babylonian period, even if no precise Mesopotamian forerunners can yet be identified.

Hittites --- Religion. --- Kizzuwatna (Cilicia) --- Akkadian language --- Religion --- Hittites - Religion --- Kizzuwatna (Cilicia) - Religion --- Akkadian language - Texts

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Cuneiform inscriptions --- Cuneiform writing --- Inscriptions cunéiformes --- Ecriture cunéiforme --- Akkadian language --- Cuneiform inscriptions, Akkadian. --- Akkadian language. --- Cuneiform writing. --- Inscriptions cunéiformes --- Ecriture cunéiforme

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Archibald Henry Sayce (1845-1933) became interested in Middle Eastern languages and scripts while still a teenager. Old Persian and Akkadian cuneiform had recently been deciphered, and in the early 1870s the translation of part of the epic tale of Gilgamesh attracted considerable publicity. Based at Oxford, the young philologist Sayce published several books on Assyrian in quick succession. In the preface to this 1875 teaching grammar/reader, he notes that in just three years since the publication of his grammar for specialists (also reissued in this series), Assyrian had become a 'popular' subject, with students 'flocking in from all sides'. His book was written in response to the demand for beginners' books that were similar to those available for Greek or Hebrew. The texts that follow the syllabary and outline grammar are accompanied by transliterations and translations, with substantial accompanying notes on vocabulary, grammar points, and Hebrew cognates.

Akkadian language --- Cuneiform writing. --- Grammar. --- Alphabet --- Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian --- Inscriptions --- Paleography --- Writing --- Achaemenian inscriptions --- Cuneiform inscriptions

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Akkadian language --- Assyriology --- Sumerian language --- Periodicals. --- Middle East --- Antiquities --- History --- Civilization