What is Writing?
{{for|different meanings of text|Text}} [[File:Edwin Smith Papyrus v2.jpg|thumb|right|230px|The Edwin Smith papyrus is the world's oldest surviving surgical document. It was written in hieratic script in ancient Egypt around 1600 BC. The text describes 48 types of medical problems in exquisite detail. These pages discuss facial injury]] [[File:Letter Luenna Louvre AO4238.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Letter on a [[clay]] tablet sent by the high-priest Lu’enna to the king of Lagash It tells the king of his son's death in combat. The script is [[cuneiform]], the date ~2400 BC]] [[File:Trilingual inscription of Xerxes, Van, 1973.JPG|thumb|right|230px|Trilingual inscription of [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]] at Van Fortress in [[Turkey]]]] [[File:Scriptorium-monk-at-work.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Scribe]] at work]] '''Writing''' is the art/act of [[recording]] [[language]] on a [[wikt:visual|visual]] [[Media|medium]] using a set of [[symbol]]s. The symbols must be known to others, so that the [[text]] may be [[read]]. A text may also use other visual systems, such as [[illustration]]s and decorations. These are not called writing, but may help the message work. Usually, all educated people in a country use the same [[writing system]] to record the same language. To be able to read and write is to be [[literacy|literate]]. Writing differs from [[speech]] because ''the readers need not be present at the time''. We can read writing from long ago, and from different parts of the world.<ref name=Ong>Ong, Walter J. 1982. ''Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word''. London: Methuen. {{ISBN|0-415-02796-9}}</ref><ref>Martin H-J. 1994. ''The history and the power of writing''. University of Chicago Press, Chapter 2 The written and the spoken word. {{ISBN|0-226-50836-6}}</ref> Text stores and communicates [[knowledge]]. Writing is one of the greatest [[invention]]s of the human species. It was invented after people settled in [[town]]s, and after [[neolithic revolution|agriculture started]]. Writing dates from about 3,30