Editing Sumer (section)

===Akkadian Empire===
{{Main|Akkadian Empire}}
[[File:Prisoners on the victory stele of an Akkadian king circa 2300 BCE Louvre Museum Sb 3.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Sumerian prisoners on a victory stele of the Akkadian king [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon]], {{circa|2300 BC}}.<ref name="ArchaeologyofElam" /><ref name="TwoSteles" /> Louvre Museum.]]

The Akkadian Empire dates to {{circa|2234}}–2154 BC ([[middle chronology]]), founded by [[Sargon of Akkad]]. The [[East Semitic languages|Eastern Semitic]] [[Akkadian language]] is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish {{circa|2800 BC}},<ref name=roux1993/> preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from {{circa|2500 BC}}. Use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon the Great]] ({{circa|2334}}–2279 BC), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by the scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the Ur III period that followed it.<ref name="auto">T. Jacobsen. ''Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture.''</ref>

Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BC, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict.<ref name="auto"/> It is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were previously conquered, by Sargon.