Linguistics is the scientific study of languages and includes studying the history of languages and the reconstruction of ancient language systems.

The Sumerian language is one of the earliest known languages and  was spoken in Sumer, a region in Mesopotamia during the Bronza Age.  Sumerian writing is known as cunieform, which was written on clay tablets. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian writing dating from approximately 2700 B.C. The hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh was a king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk. After the death of his friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh tries to learn the secrets of immortality and concludes that the gods plan is for humans to be mortal. The epic also refers to the Biblical Flood. Samples of Sumerican writing can be found at the Omniglot web site at http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sumerian.htm

The Akkadian language was spoken from about the 3rd to the 1rst millennium B.C. and was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.  The language was named after the Akkad Dynasty and by approximately 2000 B. C. had replaced the Sumerian language. The founder of the Akkadian Empire which reached its peak from the 24th - 22nd centurie B.C. and was founded by  Sargon the Great (2334 - 2279 B.C.). After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, it developed into two Akkadian speaking empires, first Assyria to the north and later Babylonia to the south.

The Ancient Egyptian language orignated approximately 3400 B.C. and was used until  the Arab invastion of 639 A.D. Egyptians used a well known picture type writing known as heiroglyphics. The final stage of the Egyptian language was known as Coptic and was used by the early Christiains living in Egypt and continued to be used by Egyptians until the 7th century.

In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone, a slab of rock, written in two languages (Egyptian and Greek) with three different types of writing (Greek, heiroglypyhics and demotic (a script used in Egypt from the 4th century on). The Rosetta Stone was significant because it made it possible to decipher heiroglyphics (Egyptian picture writing). The Rosetta Stone was deciphered by François Champollion in 1822.  He was able to decipher the stone because he could read Greek and Coptic (another form of Egyptian).

GREEK:

Ancient Greek was spoken by the people of Greece from the 9th century to the 4th century B.C. It was during this time the Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Some playwrights from this time period include Aeschylus, Plato, Sophocles and Euripides.

Linear A was an early form of writing used by the ancient Greeks. It was developed and used by the Minoan Civilization, which developed on the island of Crete, and lasted from approximately 2600 B.C. to 1100 B.C.  It is still largely undeciphered.

Linear B is an ancient form of writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest known form of Greek. It predates the Greek alphabet by centuries. The Myceneaens lived betwee 1650 - 1200 B.C. and  were the first people to speak the Greek  language. Myceneaen culture was strongly influenced by the Minoans, who lived from 3650 - 1400 B.C. Minoan culture was mainly on the island of Crete and other Aegian islands. Linear B script was discovered by sir Arthur Evans (1851 - 1941), while he was escavating the ancient city of Knossos on the island of Crete.

Koine Greek (also known as the Alexandrian dialect, after Alexander the Great) or Hellenistic Greek, was used from approximately the 4th century until approximately 300 A.D.  The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, as as a result, it is still much studied today.

At the time of the Byzantine Empire (also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, lasted from 330 A.D. until the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453. The Greek language from this time period is referred to as Byzantine Greek.

From the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Greek developed into modern Greek. Modern Greek is also referred to Demotic Greek (dimotiki), a term used since 1818.

LATIN:

Classical Latin is the Latin that was used in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC through the 2nd century AD.  This is the form of Latin that is generally taught in schools.

The Golden Age of classical Latin literature begins approximately 75 BC and lasts to approximately 15 AD and includes among others, Cicero, Julius Caesar and Catullus. The Silver Age of classical Latin literature  lasts until approximately the end of the 2nd century AD

The Silver Age of classical Latin runs from approximately 15 AD to 135 AD. Some examples of Latin language literature from this time period include works by Juvenal, Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius. 

The term Eccliastical Latin refers to Latin as used by the Catholic Church and refers to the pronunciation of the language. Though originally Latin was one language there has developed two different systems of proninciation, that of Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin. Ecclesiastical Latin used by the Catholic Church and is pronounced somewhat differently that classical Latin. It is still similar to and is easily recognized as Latin, however the pronunciation of some words of Eccliastical Latin are similar to the pronunciation of words in the Italian language.

ITALIAN AND OTHER ROMANCE LANGUAGES

Romance languages refers to the languages that developed from Latin after the fall of the Roman Empire and include French, Italian, Spanish, etc. It is interesting to note that most Romance languages have two genders, masculine and feminine and that Latin has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter.  The Romanian language is the only Romance language that preserves all three geners, masculine, feminine and neuter.

Before the 14th century, Italy was divided into various city states and several dialects were spoken. (The process of unification of Italy took place from 1815 to 1871.)  Dante Alighiere was born in Florence, which is located in Tuscany. When Dante's Inferno was completed in 1320, it became popular and as a result many writers adopted the Tuscan dialect. As a result, the Tuscan dialect strongly influenced the development of modern Italian.