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
A (cuneiform) A (cuneiform) The cuneiform sign for a, and in the "Epic of Gilgamesh" the sumerogram A, Akkadian for "mû", "water", which is used in the "Gilgamesh flood myth", Chapter XI of the Epic, or other passages. The sign is also used extensively in the Amarna letters. Cuneiform "a" is the most common of the 4-vowels in the Akkadian language, "a", "e", "i", and "u". All vowels can be interchangeable, depending on the scribe, though spellings of Akkadian words in dictionaries, will be formalized, and typically: unstressed, a 'long-vowel', or thirdly, a 'combined' vowel (often spelled with two signs (same vowel,