So...
...Rome invented reading; too.
No, the Mormons invented reading, Elsie.
Of course not, but with their HAND copied books, libraries throughout the world, Monasteries,parishes, schools...they certainly advanced it.....the problem was not the inability to read, it was the fact that reading materials were not readily available. One reason that you need not spend too much time studying how to read Swahili is that there isn't a lot of Swahili material to be read. Libraries at that time were in major cities, full of HAND WRITTEN manuscripts, unavailable to only a few. They were extremely important because they did keep the written word alive, but until the average person could avail themselves (after the printing press)they were not of great day to day benefit to the public.