Akkadian (or Babylonian-Assyrian) is the collective name for the Semitic dialects spoken in the three millenia BC in Mesopotamia. The name Akkadian --so called in ancient time-- is derived from the city-state of Akkad, founded in the middle of the third millenium BC and capital of one of the first great empires at the dawn of human history.

Old Akkadian. Akkadian is first attested in proper names in Sumerian texts (ca. 2800 BC). From ca. 2500 BC one finds texts fully written in Akkadian. The language attested in documents of the third millenium is called Old Akkadian. It is the language spoken in the central parts of Mesopotamia (the city Akkad is near present day Bagdad). The number of tablets in Old Akkadian is not very large. Most scholars in those days did not write in their native language, but in Sumerian, which at that time was the lingua franca and medium of communication between scholars. The Old Akkadian language period is at its height when Sargon the Great (2350-2330) ruled over Akkad and most of the surrounding city-states, the first empire with a central gouvernment. It ends with the downfall of the Ur-III period (the 3rd dynasty of Ur).

Babylonian and Assyrian dialects. After the third millenium a geographical differentiation become apparant from tablets dated in the second millenium. The language from the southern part of Mesopotamia is called Babylonian, whereas the northern dialect is called Assyrian. Both main streams of dialects develop in the course of time and are indicated as Old, Middle, New or Late. In several remote parts of the country other dialects existed influenced by other languages, e.g. the western semitic languages in the west part of the country.

Akkadian dialects
Old Akkadian (OAkk) 2500-1950
Old Babylonian	OB	1950-1530	Old Assyrian	OA	1950-1750
Middle Babylonian	MB	1530-1000	Middle Assyrian	MA	1500-1000
New Babylonian	NB	1000-625	New Assyrian	NA	1000-600
Late Babylonian	LB	625-0
Standard Babylonian (SB) 1500-0

Standard Babylonian. In addition to these dialects (e.g. reflected in letters, contracts) an artificial language developed. It was in use for certain kind of (literary) documents, both by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, since the cultural exchange was large. This language is called Standard Babylonian and is modelled on the Old Babylonian dialect.