The import of the mesopotamian cuneiform and subsequent Phoenician/Hittite/Sumerian alphabets cannot be overestimated on this count. It had a profound influence on all of the languages of the region (and beyond), even borrowed to create (with some loaners from futhorc runes) the Visigoth script. Also good to remember that so many of the world's languages didn't have alphabets of their own until relatively recently. Even Armenian, considered its own subgroup of Indo-European, didn't get its own alphabet until 410 CE, and it shows distinct influences from the Greek.

It's this little group of Semitic languages that've formed the basis of alphabets from Mongolia to Mali (and almost assuredly beyond).