In Mesopotamia:
* The Aramaic Script: Around the 8th century BCE, Aramaic script became increasingly popular in Mesopotamia. This script was simpler and easier to learn than cuneiform. It eventually became the dominant language for administration and commerce.
* Greek: After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, Greek became increasingly influential in the region. The Greek alphabet became the dominant script in many areas of Mesopotamia.
In other regions:
* Hieroglyphs: In ancient Egypt, cuneiform was never a dominant script. Hieroglyphs remained the primary writing system until the Ptolemaic Period (305-30 BCE), after which the Greek alphabet became increasingly common.
* The Phoenician Alphabet: The Phoenician alphabet, which was simplified and adapted from the Egyptian hieroglyphic system, was widely adopted across the Mediterranean world, including by the Greeks. It became the ancestor of most modern alphabets.
It's important to note that:
* Cuneiform wasn't completely abandoned. It continued to be used for religious and ceremonial purposes, especially in Babylonia, until the 1st century CE.
* The process of replacing cuneiform was gradual and multifaceted, influenced by political, cultural, and technological factors.
So, rather than being replaced by a single writing system, cuneiform's decline was a gradual process involving multiple factors and the rise of different scripts in different regions.