[jonplackett]

Nitpick: Paper is different to papyrus and was much more important because you don’t need reeds to make it, which Egypt had a monopoly of. After the Roman Empire collapsed no-one could get papyrus and had to use parchment which was super expensive and resulted in most people becoming illiterate because they could’t afford writing / reading material (the dark ages)

Then paper came along (from China) and made it cheap again.