Cuneiform times of Parthian Empire (250 BC – AD 226). The last known cuneiform inscription, an astronomical text, was written in 75 AD. The complexity of the system prompted the development of a number of simplified versions of the script. Old Persian was written in a subset of simplified cuneiform characters known today as Old Persian cuneiform. It formed a semi-alphabetic syllabary, using far fewer wedge strokes than Assyrian used, together with a handful of logograms for frequently occurring words like "god" and "king". Ugaritic was written using the Ugaritic alphabet, a standard Semitic style alphabet (an "abjad") written using the
Ur (cuneiform) Ur (cuneiform) The cuneiform sign ur () is a common-use sign in the "Epic of Gilgamesh", the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It has multiple sub-uses in the "Epic of Gilgamesh", as well as use for the sumerogram (capital letter (majuscule)), UR. In the Epic, "UR" is used to spell Akkadian language "barbaru", "wolf", as "UR.BAR.RA (in Tablet VI, and Tablet XI). Cuneiform "ur" is a syllabic for "ur", and an alphabetic for "u", or "r". In the Amarna letters, usage is sumerogrammic for English language "dog", spelled either "UR.KI", or "UR.KU", but the 'dog' reference can be found