The oldest inscriptions, preserved on bone tablets and pottery vessels
dating back to Dynasty 0 (the end of the 4th millennium B.C.), recorded
names of the rulers, toponyms and names of products [
01].
Hieroglyphs [
02], as well
as the hieratic and demotic - cursive forms derived from them, remained
in use until the first centuries A.D. and served to note down texts of
highly varied nature - from monumental inscriptions on temple or tomb walls,
through papyrus documents [
03],
up to memoranda and receipts recorded on ostraca [
04].
The god Thoth, the mythical inventor of writing presented as an ibis or
a baboon, was the patron of Egyptian intellectuals [
05].
