Information, of varying accuracy, about the new technology travelled to varying extents to the cultures and states outside the Roman Empire, and various attempts were made to devise local versions of the equipment. There were various motives for this - not least the desire to avoid falling too far behind the military and economic superpower technologically, for fear of being taken over, with varying degrees of success: with a combination of metal print and woodblocks some examples were to exceed the Roman Empire's finest.
As in the Roman Empire the spread of print encouraged standardisation of languages, and, once the technicalities had been mastered, gave cuneiform, which in OTL died out in the early 1st century AD, a further lease of life.
In due course a new phenomenon arose - several of the opponents of the Roman Empire, who feared the potential for expansion, started sending in literature to subvert populations and create unrest, in the expectation that this would reduce the threat.
See also[]
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