(4) According to Pliny and other sources, papyrus sheets varied by grade and price depending on the relative location of the fibers and the condition of the completed sheets. After being hammered flat, the sheets would be dried in the sun and polished with a piece of ivory or a shell. Sometimes, adhesive was added to this process. (5) They would be wet and pressed so that the layers would bind. These strips would be laid down in two layers, one vertical and one horizontal in a grid pattern. Then, the inside of the triangular stalk of the plant would be cut or peeled into long strips. According to Pliny, the Greeks and Romans favored the papyrus sheets produced from the middle section of the stalk. (1) In pharaonic times, these thin sheets were preferred. Since the lower part of the stalk contained more pulp than the higher sections, the fibers extracted would produce a thinner papyrus sheet. To begin,the stalk was harvested and cut into sections, with the lower, middle and upper parts being separated. In addition, Pliny never traveled to Egypt, so he would have no way to definitively understand the process.ĭespite this lack of documentation, we are fairly certain that we know the general steps taken to create the material. (6) Although his description is detailed, there are a few aspects that do not align with what we have observed in remnants of ancient documents. The most complete description of the preparation that remains is from Pliny’s Natural History. There are very few remaining documentations from Egypt about the process. To this day, we are not entirely positive how the ancient Egyptians produced their papyrus sheets. Despite Egypt’s generally arid climate, these conditions were found in the marshes of the Nile Delta and in the “low-lying areas fringing the Nile Valley.” (2) The papyrus stalks were thin yet strong, topped by “feathery umbels ending in small brown fruit-bearing flowers.” (2) How Papyrus was Made The papyrus plant needed fresh water or water-saturated earth to grow. From these “germs of creation,” the Egyptians extracted the material on which they could create and record for millennia. The papyrus plant was a symbol of rebirth. Papyrus marshes were thus seen as fecund, fertile regions that contained the germs of creation. "In ancient Egyptian cosmology, the world was created when the first god stood on a mound that emerged from limitless and undifferentiated darkness and water, a mythical echo of the moment each year when the land begins to reappear from beneath the annual floodwaters. As Janice Kamrin of the Department of Egyption Art at the Metropolitan Museum of art once wrote, The papyrus plant was very important to the ancient Egyptians. (4) This material, papyrus, would remain in use for longer than any other material in the history of written documents. Around 3000 BC, the Egyptians would revolutionize the literary world by producing a smooth, flexible writing material that could accept and retain ink without a blur or smudge. (4) These clay fragments were also used by many in Egypt and across Europe. The first documented material, clay, was used heavily the river plains of of Mesopotamia, where many believe writing was born. Over the course of thousands of years, different materials and literary forms dominated in distinct regions and eras. The development of writing has been a been a long process based on experimentation and a cycle of new methods gradually replacing the old. This piece serves to highlight the role of papyrus in the development of writing, documentation, and literature as we now know it. Lastly, I will describe my experiences with papyrus in order to provide my insight into its quality as a writing surface. I will first explain the general history of the material, followed by a brief explanation of how we now believe rolls of papyrus were constructed. In the following post, I will discuss papyrus and its function in the history of writing and documentation.
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