&gt;<i>Oh, OK. Those damn foreign imperialists again, always oppressing our hieroglyphics</i><p>That would make sense if you had many debates with the parent and he always blamed unrelated stuff to imperialism.<p>In this case he talks about a specific historical example, where we have a specific historical account, which happens to agree with the parent.<p>They didn&#x27;t just go out of style, they were phazed out when the country was invaded, along with other aspects of the local culture. For centuries after Alexander, in Egypt you wouldn&#x27;t get promoted to the higher ranks unless you were Greek (or Greek speaking) for example, and the local population was kept as second rate citizens. Then came the Romans, then the Arabs, ...<p>But clearly you have a specific self-made explanation, that they just &quot;couldn&#x27;t work&quot; and were abandoned for that, history be damned.