Egypt (Roman Printing)

Following the development of printing in the Roman Empire, Egyptian scribes were faced with a choice. While many of them were multilingual and could use many scripts, they faced a problem with adapting the technology to their particular situation. Despite much effort to retain the formal hieroglyphic system, the demotic script proved far easier to adapt - and hieroglyphs died out much earlier than in OTL.

The library at Alexandria flourished - due to a measure of foresight it became a 'library of record.' After the destruction caused by a small fire it was decided to make, and store, copies elsewhere. Thanks to one scholar's passing knowledge of the community at Qumran, it was decided to make use of similar cave systems. While the Qumran community felt these secular materials were inappropriate for their community, they appreciated the desire to store knowledge. Centuries later, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, further searches were made, and various of the Alexandria library's documents were retrieved.