Papyrus

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For other uses, see Papyrus
(disambiguation).

Papyrus

Papyrus ( /pəˈpaɪrəs/)
is a thick paper-like material produced from
the pith of the
papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus,[1]
a wetland sedge that was once abundant
in the Nile
Delta of Egypt.

Papyrus usually grow 2–3 meters (5–9 ft) tall. Papyrus is first known to
have been used in ancient Egypt (at least as
far back as the First dynasty),
but it was also used throughout the Mediterranean
region. Ancient Egypt used this plant as a writing material and for boats,
mattresses, mats, rope, sandals, and baskets.

Chemically, papyrus is composed of: 57% cellulose, 27% lignin, 9% minerals,
and 7% water.[2]

Contents

1 History

2 Etymology

3 Documents written on
papyrus

4 Manufacture and
use

5 Collections of
papyri

6 See also

7 References

8 Further
reading

9 External
links

[edit]
History

A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead
written on papyrus

Papyrus was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the third millennium
BCE.[3]
In the first centuries BCE and CE, papyrus scrolls gained a
rival as a writing surface in the form of parchment, which was prepared
from animal skins.[4]
Sheets of parchment were folded to form quires from which book-form codices were fashioned.
Early
Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Græco-Roman world
it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices.

Codices were an improvement on the papyrus scroll as the papyrus was not
pliable enough to fold without cracking and a long roll, or scroll, was required
to create large volume texts. Papyrus had the advantage of being relatively
cheap and easy to produce, but it was fragile and susceptible to both moisture
and excessive dryness. Unless the papyrus was of good quality, the writing
surface was irregular, and the range of media that could be used was also
limited.

Papyrus was replaced in Europe by the cheaper locally-produced products parchment and
vellum, of
significantly higher durability in moist climates, though Henri
Pirenne's connection of its disappearance with the Muslim overrunning of
Egypt is contended.[5]
Its last appearance in the Merovingian chancery is with
a document of 692, though it was known in Gaul until the middle of the
following century. The latest certain dates for the use of papyrus are 1057 for
a papal decree (typically conservative, all papal "bulls" were on papyrus until
1022), under Pope Victor II,[6]
and 1087 for an Arabic document. Its use in Egypt continued until it was
replaced by more inexpensive paper introduced by Arabs. Papyrus was
documented as in use as late as the 12th century in the Byzantine Empire, but
there are no surviving examples. Although its uses had transferred to parchment,
papyrus therefore just overlapped with the use of paper in Europe, which began in
the 11th century.[citation
needed]

Papyrus came in several qualities and prices; these are listed, with minor
differences, both by Pliny and Isidore of
Seville.

Until to the middle of the 19th century only some isolated documents written
on papyrus were known. They did not contain literary works.[7]
The first discovery of papyri rolls in modern days was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Before
that date the only papyri known were a few survivals from mediaeval times.[8][9]

[edit]
Etymology

Papyrus plant growing in a garden,
Australia

The English word
papyrus derives, via Latin, from Greek πάπυρος
(papuros).[10]
Greek has a second word for papyrus, βύβλος (bublos,[11]
said to derive from the name of the Phoenician city of Byblos). The Greek
writer Theophrastus, who
flourished during the 4th century BCE, uses papuros when referring to the
plant used as a foodstuff and bublos for the same plant when used for
non-food products, such as cordage, basketry, or a writing surface. The more
specific term βίβλος biblos, which finds its way into English in such
words as bibliography, bibliophile, and bible, refers to
the inner bark of the papyrus plant. Papyrus is also the etymon of
paper, a similar substance.

It is often claimed[by
whom?] that Egyptians referred to papyrus as pa-per-aa [p3y
pr-ˁ3] (lit., "that which is of Pharaoh"), apparently denoting
that the Egyptian crown owned a monopoly on papyrus production. However no
actual ancient text using this term is known. In the Egyptian language,
papyrus was known by the terms wadj [w3ḏ], tjufy
[ṯwfy], and djet [ḏt]. The Greek word papyros has no
known relationship to any Egyptian word or phrase.

[edit]
Documents written on
papyrus

Bill of sale for a donkey, papyrus ; 19.3 x
7.2 cm. MS Gr SM2223 Houghton Library, Harvard University

The word for the material papyrus is also used to designate documents
written on sheets of it, often rolled up into scrolls. The plural for such
documents is papyri. Historical papyri are given identifying
names—generally the name of the discoverer, first owner or institution where it
is kept—and numbered, such as "Papyrus Harris I".
Often an abbreviated form is used such as "pHarris I". We owe to these documents
some very important intelligences on the ancient word: they give us the only
extant copy of Menander, the Egyptian Book of the dead,
Egyptian treatises on medicine (the Ebers Papyrus) or on
surgery (the Edwin Smith
papyrus), Egyptian mathematical treatises (the Rhind
papyrus), Egyptian folk tales (the Westcar
papyrus), etc... When, in the eighteenth century, a library of ancient
papyri was found in Herculaneum, ripples of
expectation spread among the learned men of the time. However, since these
papyri were badly charred, their unscrolling and decyphering is still going up
today.

[edit]
Manufacture and use

Different ways of cutting papyrus stem and making
of papyrus sheet

Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew
Gardens, London

Papyrus plants at Syracuse,
Sicily

Papyrus is made from the stem of the plant. The outer rind is first stripped
off, and the sticky fibrous inner pith is cut lengthwise into thin
strips of about 40 cm (16 in) long. The strips are then placed side by
side on a hard surface with their edges slightly overlapping, and then another
layer of strips is laid on top at a right angle. The strips may have been soaked
in water long enough for decomposition to begin,
perhaps increasing adhesion, but this is not certain. It is also possible that
the two layers were glued together.[12]
While still moist, the two layers are hammered together, mashing the layers into
a single sheet. The sheet is then dried under pressure. After drying, the sheet
of papyrus is polished with some rounded object, possibly a stone or seashell or
round hard wood.[13]

To form the long strip that a scroll required, a number of such sheets were
united, placed so that all the horizontal fibres parallel with the roll's length
were on one side and all the vertical fibres on the other. Normally, texts were
first written on the recto, the lines following the
fibres, parallel to the long edges of the scroll. Secondarily, papyrus was often
reused, writing across the fibres on the verso.[3]
Pliny the Elder
describes the methods of preparing papyrus in his Naturalis
Historia.

In a dry climate like that of Egypt,
papyrus is stable, formed as it is of highly rot-resistant cellulose; but storage in
humid conditions can result in molds attacking and destroying the
material. In European conditions, papyrus seems only to have lasted a matter of
decades; a 200–year-old papyrus was considered extraordinary. Imported papyrus
that was once commonplace in Greece and Italy has since deteriorated
beyond repair, but papyrus is still being found in Egypt; extraordinary examples
include the Elephantine papyri
and the famous finds at Oxyrhynchus and Nag
Hammadi. The Villa of the Papyri
at Herculaneum, containing the
library of Lucius
Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's
father-in-law, was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but has
only been partially excavated.

There have been sporadic attempts to revive the manufacture of papyrus during
the past 250 years. The Scottish explorer James
Bruce experimented in the late 18th century with papyrus plants from the Sudan, for papyrus had
become extinct in Egypt. Also in the 18th century, a Sicilian named Saverio Landolina
manufactured papyrus at Syracuse, where papyrus
plants had continued to grow in the wild. The modern technique of papyrus
production used in Egypt for the tourist trade was developed in 1962 by the
Egyptian engineer Hassan Ragab using plants that had been reintroduced into
Egypt in 1872 from France. Both Sicily and Egypt have centres of limited papyrus
production.

Papyrus is still used by communities living in the vicinity of swamps, to the
extent that rural householders derive up to 75% of their income from swamp goods
(Maclean et al. 2003b; c). Particularly in East and Central Africa, people
harvest papyrus, which is used to manufacture items that are sold or used
locally. Examples include baskets, hats, fish traps, trays or winnowing mats and
floor mats.[14]
Papyrus is also used to make roofs, ceilings, rope and fences. Although
alternatives such as eucalyptus are increasingly
available, papyrus is still used as fuel.[15]

[edit]
Collections of
papyri

Amherst Papyri — This is a collection of Lord Amherst of Hackey. It
includes biblical manuscripts, early church fragments, and classical documents
from the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine eras. The collection was edited by Bernard Grenfell and
Arthur Hunt in 1900–1901.
It is housed at the Pierpont
Morgan Library (New York).

Archduke
Rainer Papyri — One of the world's largest collection of papyri (about
180,000 objects) in the Austrian
National Library.[16]

Berlin
Papyri — housed in the Egyptian Museum
and Papyrus Collection.[17]

Bodmer Papyri — This
collection was purchased by Martin Bodmer in
1955–1956. Currently it is housed in the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana
in Cologny.
It includes Greek and Coptic documents, classical
texts, biblical books, and writing of the early churches.

Chester Beatty
Papyri — collection of 11 codices acquired by Alfred Chester
Beatty in 1930–1931 and 1935. It is housed at the Chester Beatty
Library. The collection was edited by Frederic G.
Kenyon.

Colt Papyri — it is housed at the Pierpont
Morgan Library (New York).

The Herculaneum
papyri — These papyri were found in Herculaneum in the eighteenth
century, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. After
some tinkering, a method was found to unroll and to read them. Bulk of them
are housed at the Naples
National Archaeological Museum.[18]

The Houghton's papyri — the collection at Houghton Library, Harvard
University was acquired between 1901 and 1909 thanks to a donation from
the Egypt Exploration
Fund.[19]

Martin
Schøyen Collection — biblical manuscripts in Greek and Coptic, Dead Sea Scrolls,
classical documents

Michigan
Papyrus Collection — this collection contains above 10 000 papyri
fragments. It is housed at the University of
Michigan.

Oxyrhynchus
Papyri — these numerous papyri fragments were discovered by Grenfell
and Hunt in and around Oxyrhynchus. The
publication of these papyri is still in progress. A large part of the
Oxyrhynchus papyri are housed at the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford, others
in the British Museum in London, in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and many
other places.

Princeton Papyri
— it is housed at the Princeton
University[20]

Rylands Papyri —
this collection contains above 700 papyri, with 31 ostraca and 54 codices. It
is housed at the John
Rylands University Library.

Washington University Papyri Collection — includes 445 manuscript
fragments, dating from the first century BC to the eighth century AD. Housed
at the Washington
University Libraries.

Yale Papyrus Collection — numbers over six thousand inventoried
items and is cataloged, digitally scanned, and accessible online for close
study. It is housed at the Beinecke
Library.

[edit]
See also

The Heracles Papyrus

Pliny the Elder

Papyrology

Papyrus sanitary
pad

Palimpsest

For Egyptian papyri:

List of
ancient Egyptian Papyri

Other papyri:

Elephantine
papyri

Magdalen
papyrus

Nag Hammadi
library

New
Testament papyri

Strasbourg
papyrus

The papyrus plant in Egyptian art

Palmette

Other ancient writing materials:

Palm leaf
manuscript India

Amate
Mesoamerica

Paper

Ostracon

Wax
tablets

Clay tablets

Birch bark
document

Parchment

[edit]
References

^ "Papyrus
definition". Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Papyrus. Retrieved 2008-11-20.

^ William H.
Shepherd, The Preservation and Conservation of Papyri (2008)

^ a
b
H. Idris Bell and T.C. Skeat, 1935. "Papyrus and its uses" (British Museum
pamphlet).

^ Černý,
Jaroslav. 1952. Paper and Books in Ancient Egypt: An Inaugural Lecture
Delivered at University College London, 29 May 1947. London: H. K. Lewis.
(Reprinted Chicago: Ares Publishers Inc., 1977).

^ Pirenne,
Mohammed and Charlemagne, critiqued by R.S. Lopez, "Mohammed and
Charlemagne: a revision", Speculum (1943:14-38.).

^ David Diringer, The
Book before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental, Dover Publications,
New York 1982, p. 166.

^ Frederic G. Kenyon,
Palaeography of Greek papyri (Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1899), p. 1.

^ Frederic G. Kenyon,
Palaeography of Greek papyri (Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1899), p. 3.

^ Diringer, David (1982).
The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental. New York:
Dover Publications. pp. 250–256. ISBN 0-486-24243-9.

^ πάπυρος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

^ βύβλος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

^
Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography, Maunde Thompson. archive.org

^ Bierbrier,
Morris Leonard, ed. 1986. Papyrus: Structure and Usage. British Museum
Occasional Papers 60, ser. ed. Anne Marriott. London: British Museum
Press.

^ Langdon, S.
2000. Papyrus and its Uses in Modern Day Russia, Vol. 1,
pp. 56–59.

^ Maclean,
I.M.D., R. Tinch, M. Hassall and R.R. Boar. 2003c. Towards optimal use of
tropical wetlands: an economic evaluation of goods derived from papyrus swamps
in southwest Uganda. Environmental Change and Management Working Paper No.
2003-10, Centre for Social and Economic Research into the Global Environment,
University of East Anglia, Norwich.

^ Papyrus Collection at the Austrian National Library

^ Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection

^ Diringer, David (1982).
The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental. New York:
Dover Publications. p. 252 ff. ISBN 0-486-24243-9.

^ Digital Papyri at Houghton Library, Harvard University

^ Digital Images of Selected Princeton Papyri

Leach, Bridget, and William John Tait. 2000. "Papyrus". In Ancient
Egyptian Materials and Technology, edited by Paul T. Nicholson and Ian
Shaw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 227–253. Thorough technical
discussion with extensive bibliography.

Leach, Bridget, and William John Tait. 2001. "Papyrus". In The Oxford
Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 3 of 3
vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American
University in Cairo Press. 22–24.

Parkinson, Richard Bruce, and Stephen G. J. Quirke. 1995. Papyrus.
Egyptian Bookshelf. London: British Museum Press. General overview for a
popular reading audience.

[edit]
Further reading

Horst Blanck: Das Buch in der Antike. Beck, München 1992, ISBN
3-406-36686-4

Rosemarie Drenkhahn: Papyrus. In: Wolfgang Helck, Wolfhart
Westendorf (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Bd. IV, Wiesbaden 1982,
Spalte 667-670

David Diringer, The Book before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and
Oriental, Dover Publications, New York 1982, pp. 113–169, ISBN
0-486-24243-9.

Victor Martin (Hrsg.): Ménandre. Le Dyscolos. Bibliotheca
Bodmeriana, Cologny- Genève 1958

Otto Mazal: Griechisch-römische Antike. Akademische Druck- und
Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1999, ISBN
3-201-01716-7 (Geschichte der Buchkultur; Bd. 1)

[edit]
External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Papyrus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Papyri

Leuven Homepage of Papyrus Collections

Ancient Egyptian Papyrus – Aldokkan

Yale Papyrus Collection Database at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale
University

Lund University Library Papyrus Collection

How Papyrus Paper is being made

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