Archaeologists Find Athenian Naval Base

[Anomalocaris]

Scrolls may be expensive, but what about ink on wooden shavings?

Not the point. If you're interested in literacy, well there should be something to read. The letters were written on wood shavings, but to compose them, you had to know how to read and write. And again, what was there to read for an ordinary citizen or soldier?

I don't think there needs to be written material circulated on a movable print scale for it to be worthwhile to for ordinary citizens to learn to read or write, be able to handle routine legal or commercial transaction through writing, or be able to read notice boards, business signs, stadium game scores, or even solacious little stories copied on little wooden slats. I don't think the opportunity cost of learning to read or write a phonetic alphabet language at a basic level in a society which does not purposely try to protect the privilege of the scribe should be very high.