Editing Cuneiform (section)

===Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian cuneiform===
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=400|caption_align=center
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| header=Neo-Assyrian cuneiform syllabary<br /><small>(c.&nbsp;650 BC)</small>
| image1   = Akkadian syllabary.svg
| image2   = Mesopotamian palace paving slab REM.JPG
| footer= Left: Simplified cuneiform syllabary, in use during the [[Neo-Assyrian]] period.<ref name=":12" /> The "C" before and after vowels stands for "Consonant". Right: Mesopotamian palace paving slab, c. 600 BC
}}
In the [[Iron Age]] (c. 10th–6th centuries BC), Assyrian cuneiform was further simplified. The characters remained the same as those of Sumero-Akkadian cuneiforms, but the graphic design of each character relied more heavily on wedges and square angles, making them significantly more abstract:

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Assurbanipal King of Assyria (Sumero-Akkadian and Neo-Babylonian scripts).jpg|<div class="center">"[[Assurbanipal]] King of [[Assyria]]"<br />''Aššur-bani-habal šar mat Aššur <sup>KI</sup>''<br />Same characters, in the classical Sumero-Akkadian script of c.&nbsp;2000&nbsp;BC (top), and in the Neo-Assyrian script of the [[Rassam cylinder]], 643&nbsp;BC (bottom).<ref>For the original inscription: {{cite book |last1=Rawlinson |first1=H. C. |title=Cuneiform inscriptions of Western Asia |page=3, column 2, line 98 |url=http://www.etana.org/sites/default/files/coretexts/20376.pdf}} For the transliteration in Sumerian ''an-szar2-du3-a man kur_ an-szar2{ki}'': {{cite web |title=CDLI-Archival View |url=https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P421807 |website=cdli.ucla.edu}} For the translation: {{cite book |last1=Luckenbill |first1=David |title=Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia Volume II |page=297 |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/ancient_records_assyria2.pdf}} For the Assyrian pronunciation: {{cite journal |last1=Quentin |first1=A. |title=Inscription Inédite du Roi Assurbanipal: Copiée Au Musée Britannique le 24 Avril 1886 |journal=Revue Biblique (1892-1940) |date=1895 |volume=4 |issue=4 |page=554 |jstor=44100170 |issn=1240-3032}}</ref></div>
File:Rassam cylinder with translation of the First Assyrian Conquest of Egypt, 643 BCE.jpg|The [[Rassam cylinder]] with translation of a segment about the [[Assyrian conquest of Egypt]] by [[Ashurbanipal]] against "[[Black Pharaoh]]" [[Taharqa]], 643&nbsp;BC
</gallery>

Babylonian cuneiform was simplified along similar lines during that period, albeit to a lesser extent and in a slightly different way. From the 6th century, the [[Akkadian language]] was marginalized by [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], written in the [[Aramaic alphabet]], but Akkadian cuneiform remained in use in the literary tradition well into the times of the [[Parthian Empire]] (250&nbsp;BC{{snd}}226&nbsp;AD).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Frye |first1=Richard N. |title=History of Mesopotamia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/Mesopotamia-from-c-320-bce-to-c-620-ce |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=December 11, 2020 |quote=The use of cuneiform in government documents ceased sometime during the Achaemenian period, but it continued in religious texts until the 1st century of the Common era.}}</ref> The last known cuneiform inscription, an astronomical text, was written in 75&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Marckham |last=Geller |s2cid=161968187 |title=The Last Wedge |journal=Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie |volume=87 |issue=1 |year=1997 |pages=43–95 |doi=10.1515/zava.1997.87.1.43 }}</ref> The ability to read cuneiform may have persisted until the third century AD.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":12" />