It important to know what the game designers meant by "alphabet" and "writing" when they created the technology tree for the game.
Here is the description of "Alphabet" straight out of the Civ 3 civilopedia:
"The ancestors of modern alphabets were the iconographic and ideographic symbols developed by ancient man, such as cuneiform and hieroglyphics. The first known alphabet, a combination of a number of early pictographic symbols known as North Semitic, was developed between 1700 and 1500 BC. Four other alphabets, South Semitic, Canaanite, Aramaic, and Greek, had evolved from the North Semitic alphabet by 1000 BC. The Roman alphabet, used by all the languages of Western Europe including English, was derived from the Greek alphabet sometime after 500 BC. The Roman alphabet became one of the most widespread due to the extensive use of the Latin language
during the reign of the Roman Empire. The development of alphabets was significant in the development of advanced civilizations because it allowed history and ideas to be written down, rather than memorized and passed along orally."
Here is the description of "Writing" as per the civilopedia:
"The development of writing is considered one of the most important advances of civilization. The earliest forms of writing were simple symbols and marks, used to keep accounts and inventories. Some cultures developed pictographic symbols to tell stories and record events. Eventually, complete systems of writing were developed, capable of conveying any thought that could be expressed orally. At this point, scribes replaced the oral historian as the chief keepers of records. Writing allowed the presentation of information in a form that could be reliably transmitted from person to person and made it possible for ideas, history, and knowledge to be stored permanently and passed
between cultures more reliably than through oral recitation."
I'd have to say Firaxis "got it right" considering what their definitions were of "writing" and "alphabet" (pertaining to the game).
But still... I think it's alright the way it is, doesn;t really give me any problems
