And don't forget the most important glyphs of them all - the Egyptian hieroglyphs.  Mayans used their own set of glyphs to communicate.  Both the Egyptians and Mayans had some glyphs that represented an entire word (usually an animal or object), while other glyphs merely represented sounds that were then combined to make words.  

Glyph is a word that holds a lot of images for the historian in me.  It is the foundation of writing in many ancient cultures that have caught my fancy.  I like how it sounds when said aloud, and also the fact that is one of the few words in English that doesn't have a vowel.  ❤️