The oldest inscriptions, preserved on bone tablets and pottery vessels dating back to Dynasty 0 (the end of the 4th millennium B.C.), recorded names of the rulers, toponyms and names of products. Hieroglyphs, as well as the hieratic and demotic – cursive forms derived from them, remained in use until the first centuries A.D. and served to note down texts of highly varied nature – from monumental inscriptions on temple or tomb walls, through papyrus documents, up to memoranda and receipts recorded on ostraca. The god Thoth, the mythical inventor of writing presented as an ibis or a baboon, was the patron of Egyptian intellectuals.