Hieroglyphics was often employed for monumental inscriptions and decorative writings, whereas hieratic was used for administrative documents that valued substance above beauty, were written by hand, and required to be created swiftly. Demotic was a language developed for use by common people. It was derived from Egyptian and included both vowels and consonants; thus, it was not strictly speaking alphabetical. Demotic was widely used from the late Sixth Century B.C. onward, but it was not the first language of the Egyptians. They had already learned to write in hieroglyphs during the Old Kingdom (2600-2200 B.C.) and used this language for monuments and official paperwork. But at this time they also used an informal version of the writing called "demotic" or "commoner's language." This was designed to make reading and writing easier for people who could not read or write properly. The language was based on Egyptian but contained many Greek words too. So, demotic was not a true foreign language because most of its elements were derived from Egyptian. During the Fifth Dynasty (2400 B.C.), kings began to carve themselves portraits instead of using impersonal symbols like animals or plants. These portraits were made in black stone (called "bronze before gold") that came from the mines in Egypt's northern border region with Israel and Syria.