11. The Death of the Ancient Egyptian Language
Ancient Egypt was a great and highly influential civilization, but for centuries, little was known about its history. It was not because the ancient Egyptian did not leave behind written records, but because nobody could read those records. After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, Greek became the language of the ruling elite. Native Egyptian writing, whether colorfully picturesque hieroglyphs found on the walls of temples and monuments, or the simpler daily use demotic script, went into a steady decline.
For a while, hieroglyphs continued to be used by priests, and demotic continued to be used by commoners. However, as century succeeded century with Egypt being ruled by foreigners who used their own languages, native Egyptian writing waned. The spread of Christianity eventually killed off the ancient Egyptian religion, and as the old gods’ priests vanished, so did their knowledge of hieroglyphs.
