The kings had, however, begun to realizeits potential for extending communication, in an almost magical way,beyond what could be accomplished with the spoken word. Writingcould perpetually and eternally address an audience on a king’sbehalf; the words were always there, even when the king was notthinking about them. Given that the population was almost entirelyilliterate, such an audience was mostly made up of gods. Thestatuette of the king’s personal god (or sometimes of the kinghimself), inscribed with the same text as the tablet, could thereforepray continuously in a way that a real person could not.