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) , connected (ligatured, attached to "a")-, ligatured to cuneiform "a" is the ia (cuneiform)--. It has usages in the Akkadian language for words starting with "ia", for example "iā'u", (English "mine"), "iāši", (English "(to) me"), and "iāti", (English "me"). In the Amarna letters "ia" is also used as a suffix: -ia, for example Amarna letter EA 325, ""To King (Pharaoh)-Lord-mine" (-ia), "God-mine", "Sun-God-mine", ..." ("A-na Lugal-bēlu-ia, An-meš-ia, An-UTU-ia, ...") The Amarna letter usage of cuneiform "a" has the same high usage for Akkadian language "ana" (a-na) as does the "Epic of Gilgamesh". Two other high usages for "a" and typical