Little Cyrus, after dreaming of inventing a new language, quickly encountered another obstacle: the lack of a suitable writing surface. Clay tablets, despite their durability, were heavy, fragile, and cumbersome. Their transportation was difficult, and they occupied a lot of space. Animal skins, though lighter, were very precious and rare, and by no means cost-effective for widespread use. These materials were in stark contrast to Cyrus's philosophy of spreading knowledge and literacy among the general populace; he needed a material that was cheap, light, and accessible.
He recalled how humans, from the very beginning, sought to record their thoughts and knowledge, utilizing various materials for this purpose. Every civilization, depending on its geographical location and available resources, found a way to write, from carving on stone to imprinting on softer materials. This quest for a more suitable surface spanned thousands of years of history.
The first and perhaps most enduring writing surface was clay tablets, which emerged in Mesopotamian civilizations, especially in Sumer. These tablets, though heavy, bulky, and fragile, had unparalleled durability against fire and the passage of time. Thousands of clay tablets have been unearthed today as testaments to the knowledge, laws, and literature of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations. But Cyrus knew that their transportation was difficult and their preservation required immense space.
In ancient Egypt, a revolutionary material emerged: papyrus. This writing surface was made from the papyrus plant that grew along the Nile River. Its manufacturing process involved cutting the plant stems into thin strips, soaking and pressing them to form thin, flexible sheets. Papyrus was much lighter and more portable than clay tablets, and writing on it was easier. However, papyrus also had its drawbacks; it was vulnerable to excessive humidity and dryness, required Egypt's specific climate, and its production was not cheap.
Then, in the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor, another material called parchment (or vellum) was developed. This material, made from the skin of sheep, goats, or calves, was much more durable, flexible, and capable of being erased and rewritten. Parchment provided a luxurious and excellent surface for writing that had greater resistance to erosion and climatic changes. However, this material was also very expensive, and its complex and time-consuming production process limited its use to religious, royal, and important texts.
In the Far East, the civilization of China had also pursued different paths for writing. They initially used bamboo or wooden tablets which, like clay tablets, were bulky and heavy. Then, silk was used as a luxurious writing surface; it was light and delicate, but due to its very high cost, it was only used for very important and aristocratic texts. This diversity in methods demonstrated humanity's global effort to record and transmit knowledge.
Cyrus, reviewing this history in his mind, concluded that none of these materials provided an optimal combination of accessibility, affordability, lightness, and ease of mass production. Each had drawbacks that hindered the widespread dissemination of literacy and knowledge. He thought about the importance of this issue in the modern world, where paper was found everywhere.
These thoughts led him to understand that to realize the dream of New Persian and universal education, he needed a tool that had not yet been known in this part of the world. Cyrus knew that to implement such a revolution, a new script and language alone would not suffice. The writing tool also had to be revolutionized. He quickly concluded that he needed to find a way to produce paper; a light, inexpensive, and accessible material that could bring his writing revolution to fruition. These two goals, a new language and paper, were intertwined.
Cyrus's decision was firm. He intended to realize these two great innovations in Anshan, at least on a small scale, before he turned five. He wanted to kill two birds with one stone: both prove his extraordinary genius to his family and those around him and gain their support, and lay the foundation for the revolution of knowledge and literacy in his future empire by establishing these essential tools. He knew that these would be the first tangible steps on the path to building his thousand-year civilization.