The early Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic writing systems were widely influential across cultures, but consisted of hundreds of symbols to learn and memorize, leaving them unwieldy and accessible to only a few (Meggs & Purvis, p. 21). Over time, people would simplify them by leveraging the systems’ phonetic properties to reduce them down to a smaller set of characters each representing a basic spoken sound, creating the origins of the modern alphabet (Meggs & Purvis, p. 21). The creation of the first alphabet itself, however, is somewhat uncertain – many believe the Cretan pictographs of early Minoan civilization could have served as initial inspiration, adapting early pictographs to a form of linear script writing in 1700 BCE, many of which resemble early alphabet characters (Meggs & Purvis, p. 21). By 1500 BCE, however, a number of alphabets were active and in use across early civilization, such as the Sinaitic script of Egypt, which adapted Hieroglyphics to use only the initial sound they made, and the Ras Shamra Script, which adapted Cuneiform-like letters to 30 consonants and without any vowels (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23). Perhaps the earliest and most influential incantations, however, were the North Semitic writing system, which took inspiration from many of the surrounding cultures thanks to their advanced sea-faring and created the Sui Generis script as far back as 2000 BCE, which included a syllabary for hundreds of symbols (Meggs & Purvis, p. 21-23). This would eventually spawn both the 22-character Phoenician and Aramaic alphabets, that would respectively diverge between Western and Eastern writing systems (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23).
In regards to the latter, the Aramaic script was heavily calligraphic, with thick horizontal strokes contrasting thin vertical ones (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23). The characters and styling would later inspire and be adapted into the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets, which would each add their own characters for vowels and extensions for inscriptional writing (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23). The Arabic in particular alphabet would then branch eastward with Muslim conquests and discoveries and is thought to have inspired scripts such as classical Sanskrit and contemporary Indian writing (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23-25).
In contrast, the Phoenician alphabet was deceptively simple, and became widely influential and utilized across Ancient Greece (Meggs & Purvis, p. 25). Over time, the Greeks would create and standardize the Ionic, or early Greek, alphabet, molding Phoenician characters into consonants and introducing a few more for various vowels (Meggs & Purvis, p. 25-27). As opposed to the heavy calligraphic focus of the Aramaic script, the Greek alphabet was heavily inspired by geometry, using basic shapes to create letters comprised of uniform vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and curved strokes (Meggs & Purvis, p. 27). These would only become more refined with the introduction of the early pen, which allowed for greater precision at fewer strokes, eventually leading to the uncial, or classical Greek, variation in writing (Meggs & Purvis, p. 27). With the conquest of Alexander the Great around 323 BCE, this was the alphabet that was spread across ancient civilization, inspiring many libraries and classical works in its wake (Meggs & Purvis, p. 28).
By the time the Roman Empire would take over what remained around 250 BCE, they would once again adapt it into the Latin Alphabet, comprising of 23 letters from the ancient Greeks, and the addition of 3 more in the later Middle Ages (Meggs & Purvis, p. 28-29). Using this system, several derivatives were created for different scopes of importance, including the precursors to modern-day capital and lowercase letters, as well as characters with serifs for use in public monuments (Meggs & Purvis, p. 29). Papyrus scrolls would also start to be replaced around 190 BCE, swapped out for reusable wax tablets and bound parchment sheets made from refined leather (Meggs & Purvis, p. 31). Known as a codex, the latter would create the basis for modern day books, allowing for writers to use both sides of a sheet as well as keep multiple works open at a time (Meggs & Purvis, p. 23). Because of their greater versatility and durability, the codex would eventually be heavily adopted by Christians to differentiate and preserve their sacred texts, becoming a symbol of Christian faith juxtaposed by the Pagan scroll (Meggs & Purvis, p. 31). After Christianity was officially solidified as the religion of Rome in 325 CE, codices and books would become standardized across the empire and remain as such even past its dissolution (Meggs & Purvis, p. 31).
All the meanwhile, many important writing systems and inventions were being developed in Asia, cut off from the rest of the world (Meggs & Purvis, p. 35). In China, the earliest writings can be traced up to 1800 BCE, carved into the shells and bones of animals, and later more commonly cast-bronze items (Meggs & Purvis, p. 35). Primarily used for ceremonial purposes, the Chinese script would have many local derivatives until officially standardized under emperor Shihuangdi around 260 BCE as the Hsaio Chuan, or small seal, style -- using many even and balanced strokes to fill in an imaginary square for each character (Meggs & Purvis, p. 35-37). Though this style would eventually evolve into the Li-Shu (clerical) style and even later the Chen-Shu (regular) styles, the focus on visual design would always be at the forefront, balancing the structure, white-space, and nuances of each character (Meggs & Purvis, p. 37). Notably, the Chinese script is not an alphabet, but a visual system of almost forty-four thousand logograms where characters represent entire, distinct words (Meggs & Purvis, p. 35). The Chinese script was also heavily calligraphic, thought to be inspired by nature and imbued with bones, meat, blood, and muscle, representing the size, proportion, texture, and spirit of characters respectively (Meggs & Purvis, p. 37-39). As such, the calligraphy was often linked to a deep spirituality, emphasizing and connecting the writer with tao, or the energy of the universe (Meggs & Purvis, p. 39). Much of the Chinese script would later be adopted by and inspire the Japanese or Korean writing systems as well, although adapted to a more alphabet-like structure (Meggs & Purvis, p. 31-32,35).
The ancient Chinese would also go on to invent paper around 105 BCE, replacing the common bamboo slats and silk sheets of the region for a more versatile and economical writing material (Meggs & Purvis, p. 39). Paper would allow for not just the better storage of information – improving from the scroll to accordian-like, and eventually codex-like stitched books – but developments in early printing as well, with the introduction of block, or relief, printing (Meggs & Purvis, p. 39). Relief printing is a process whereby a craftsman takes an image or passage of text and carves it backwards into a flat block, such that the characters or figure of interest remain raised while everything else is cut away, or vice versa (Meggs & Purvis, p. 39). This allows a possible printer to repeatedly paint the raised portion with ink and press it into paper, leaving on it an impression of the original figure (Meggs & Purvis, p. 39). Using this technique, the Chinese would be able to widely produce and adopt printed goods such as paper money, books, and playing cards (Meggs & Purvis, p. 43-45). However, due to the extensive nature of their written script, attempts at automating the process as early as 1045 CE were met with the challenges of needing to carve and sort each individual symbol, and unfortunately never caught on (Meggs & Purvis, p. 46). These inventions would slowly spread westward to Europe, inspiring a new era of textual and graphic design (Meggs & Purvis, p. 46).