Know what? Ancient cultures and languages turn me on. Yeah, that's right; I am a nerd. But just see it from my point of view for a second.
The diversity of languages long forgotten. The drama of empires rising and falling as their leaders struggle to forge something permanent. Power struggles. Subversive messages and counter-cultural movements. Exotic and foreign-sounding names. The many ingenious ways people have devised to write down their thoughts, feelings, and prayers.
Take for example the Avestan script (here and here). Beautiful, isn't it? It was developed in the 300s AD to write down really old Zoroastrian prayers because the Old Persian language (related to Sanskrit) was falling into disuse. The new alphabet still got squashed under the weight of the seventh century Arabic rulers who brought their own language and alphabet. The hymns and teachings of Zarathustra and many Persians after him are almost gone by 900 AD.
Omniglot.com and AncientScripts.com are devoted to the awesome study of writing systems.