One of the major cultural achievements
Earliest texts were religious messages: praises of the gods or curses
People believed the written idea had power
Earliest written characters were called hieroglyphs, which means holy cravings
Handwritten form of hieroglyphic writing was developed that required the writer to write with ink on papyrus
Later, they invented simpler characters and developed the so-called Demotic and Hieratic writing systems
Some are "phonograms" and represent sounds like with cuneiform
Others are "ideograms" and represent entire words
Hieroglyphics were often inscribed on temples, tombs, and other structures
Translating them was nearly impossible until the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799