m used in Ancient Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elemen ts, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters.[4][5] Cursive hieroglyphs we re used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and dem otic Egyptian scripts are derived from hieroglyphic writing; Meroitic was a late derivation from Demotic. Use of hieroglyphic writing arises from proto-literate symbol systems in the Ear ly Bronze Age, around the 32nd century BC (Naqada III),[1] with the first deciph erable sentence written in the Egyptian language dating to the Second Dynasty (2 8th century BC). Egyptian hieroglyphs developed into a mature writing system use d for monumental inscription in the classical language of the Middle Kingdom per iod; during this period, the system made use of about 900 distinct signs. The wr iting system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Per sian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well in to the Roman period, extending into the 4th century AD. With the closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, and the script remained undeciphered throughout the medieval a nd early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphs would only be solved in the 1820s by Jean-Franois Champollion, with the help of the Rosetta Stone.