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A Manual of Akkadian

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A MANUAL OF AKKADIAN by David Marcus. 182 pp. New York : University Press of America, 1978. ISBN 0-8191-0608-9 (pbk.)

David Marcus tells us in his Preface that the present Manual "is designed to teach Akkadian, [one of the languages] of ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), to beginning students by the inductive method. By this method the student is immediately introduced to cuneiform writing, and Akkadian grammar is learnt directly as it is encountered." The Manual is supposed to have been designed for absolute beginners, and we are told that no background in any other Semitic language is required.

After a brief Introduction which provides some basic information about Akkadian, its dialects, the dialects and script used in the Manual, and how to use the Manual, 21 Chapters follow, the first two of which cover Syllables, basic signs, verbal system, weak verbs, phonological rules, transliteration, and normalization.

Each of the 19 Chapters which follow contain a cuneiform text which ranges in length from the 3 lines of Chapter 3 to the three whole pages of cuneiform given in Chapter 21. The texts have been drawn from three sources : The Code of Hammurapi; The Descent of Ishtar; and The Annals of Sennacherib.

Each text is followed by detailed grammatical notes, and students are required to translate almost all of the passages by themselves since translations are provided only for the cuneiform texts in Chapters 3, 4, and 5. The book is rounded out with a 14-page SIGN LIST, a 42-page GLOSSARY, a grammatical INDEX, and a useful 4-page section of SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING.

David Marcus, who is an Assistant Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, may have been exaggerating when he described this work as "a self-teaching Manual," since Akkadian is not an easy language and questions began to occur to me at once for which I wasn't able to find answers in the book.

But so far as I can see, the biggest problem with this Manual, which has not been set up in print but is a reproduced typescript, is that no instruction is given on how to write the cuneiform signs, and the signs themselves have been printed far too small.

Cuneiform, as Stephanie Dalley points out in her 'Myths from Mesopotamia,' is "an ambiguous and exceptionally complicated writing system" (page xv). The learner needs to be able to see these highly complex signs printed large and bold and clear. But in a book with pages that measure only 8.5 by 5.5 inches, and which cram as many as five or six hundred of these signs on a single page, the difficulties of the learner are considerably increased.

And to make matters even worse, the book has one of those detestable glued spines that cannot be opened flat, thereby adding further to one's difficulties. One wonders who makes these decisions, and just what is going on in their heads?

Marcus's 'Manual of Akkadian' is, on the whole, a fascinating and well thought out textbook, and the thought that by means of it one can learn to reach so far back in time as to understand the words of the Mesopotamians is truly exciting. Working one's way through it would involve a great deal of hard work, certainly for those who are not linguistically gifted, but the rewards would start to come soon. What a pity that the heavy task of the student wasn't made a bit lighter by the choice of a more intelligent and practical format!

Marcus' book varies greatly from other approaches to learning akkadian that are presented in today's market. Most textbooks will teach the grammar deductively requiring the student to memorize vast amounts of information. The verb morphology can be particularily overwhelming. However, using the inductive approach, the rules become internalized without a great deal of memorization. Marcus does a great job of presenting the grammar as it is encountered and one feels a great deal of satisfaction of reading authentic material right from the start. Although most people would not recommend learning the cuneiform script to begin with, I believe that reading in cuneiform from the start is very important for learning the whole of the language. To start learning in romanized transliteration will only make learning cuneiform later on all the more difficult. The format of the book is up for criticism, however, I found that the format did not hinder me at all. This is a great book for learning Akkadian, and having used Caplice, and Huehnergard, I would recomend starting with Marcus.

I am an amateur Akkadian enthusiast, and by no means an expert, Nevertheless I wish to express those things which I liked, and those I didn't like as much with this book. I did like that the book exposes you early on to Akkadian cuneiform(Huehnergard's makes you wait for it), and I really enjoyed that Marcus presented possible signs for Akkadian syllables early on. On the other hand I didn't like that the book does present Hammurabi's code in a Neo-Assyrian script(which seems to be kind of the standard for modern cuneiform studies), when it should be presented in Old Babylonian script. Also perhaps the greatest shortcoming of this book is the lack of a key. When one is not an expert in cuneiform how is one supposed to know whether one is getting it right without some sort of reference? So in Summary this book is alright for Akkadian students or amateur enthusiasts like myself, but I personally prefer John Huehnergard's A Grammar of Akkadian with its accompanying Key to A Grammar of Akkadian.

I am using this book to learn Akkadian on my own. It is very helpful. The typeface is not a problem.

This book was created to offer an inductive introduction to Akkadian. But it appears to have been intended for classroom use. First of all, the exercises require greater knowledge than you get simply working through the texts. Second of all, there is no answer key. And third of all, words from the exercises aren't in the glossary if they aren't in the main readings. All of these are fine if you've an Akkadian professor to help you through the stumbles, but not if this is your only source while learning Akkadian.

I don't have a professor, but I do have the excellent Teach Yourself Complete Babylonian. I did the first eight chapters before undertaking the present work, and find that the background it gave me in transliteration and normalization gave me the confidence to push through. And having that confidence, it has been truly exciting to be able to read the Code of Hammurapi starting with cuneiform and working through. (While using TY C Babylonian when I'm not sure I've understood something correctly.)

If you are interested in learning to read Akkadian texts, this Manual of Akkadian is an excellent book provided you have other resources to make sure you're getting it. I would recommend it highly for those who want to read real texts from the start and gain rapid acquaintance with the language, but who have outside help available. Absent a live professor, I would recommend using TY C Babylonian as a companion to the manual.

Like the one of John Huehnergard this is monumental work. You will find Akkadian texts and will begin to tranlate almost immediately.