Glagolitic
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The Glagolitic script is the oldest known alphabet used to write Slavic languages, developed in the 9th century to help spread Christianity among Slavic peoples. It matters historically because it was the first writing system specifically created for Slavic languages and paved the way for the Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used today by many Slavic nations.
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A page from the Zograf Codex with text of the Gospel of Luke
The Glagolitic script (/ˌɡlæɡəˈlɪtɪk/ GLAG-ə-LIT-ik; ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⰻⱌⰰ, glagolitsa) is the oldest-known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Cyril, a Christian monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Methodius were sent by the Byzantine Emperor to Great Moravia as missionaries. After the deaths of Cyril and Methodius, their disciples were expelled from Moravia, and they moved to the First Bulgarian Empire instead. The Early Cyrillic alphabet, which was developed gradually in the Preslav Literary School by scribes who incorporated some Glagolitic letters when writing in the Greek alphabet, gradually replaced Glagolitic in that region. Glagolitic remained in use alongside the Latin script in the Kingdom of Croatia and alongside Cyrillic until the 14th century in the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Serbian Empire; in later periods, it was used mainly for cryptographic purposes.