Modern reproduction of papyrus scroll.
Made using Cyperus papyrus, papyrus as an early writing support for the Ancient Egyptians would come to represent ancient life. Viewed from its cross-section, the stem of the plant had a triangular shape that reflected the shape of the pyramids, a symbol of eternal life, while its flowers symbolised the rays of the sun.
The process of creating papyrus began with the removal of the stalk and flowers of the plant. The green exterior of the stem was then stripped away, to be used to weave into sandals or baskets. What remained was the white interior, which would be sliced into long, thin strips. Without treatment, these strips were brittle and easily broken. To ready them for use, these strips were soaked in water for about 3 days, and then laid out, each strip overlapping the edge of the next strip, with a second strip laid over the first but at a right-angle, creating a criss-cross pattern. This rectangular sheet was eventually placed between cloth to absorb water and pressed down with a heavy weight for 3 days, usually heavy stones or rocks, although modern reproductions employ the use of a mechanical press. Once the sheet had been pressed and dried under the sun for an additional day, its maker would be left with a sturdy, yet flexible sheet of papyrus. These sheets could be easily resized, rolled into a scroll, or folded into smaller shapes. Held up against a light, one can easily identify a genuine papyrus sheet by the criss-cross pattern of the strips, something that is absent from modern imitations made using materials like banana leaves.
Papyrus sheet held against light.
Certain sheets could also appear brown compared to others. To achieve this, the strips had to be soaked and pressed for 6 days each, 3 more than if one desired a whiter sheet. Craftsmen could thus create sheets of varying colours based on what was needed, and the extended process itself had little to no effect on the actual quality of the papyrus sheets produced.
Used since 3000 B.C.E. in Ancient Egypt, papyrus as a writing support was be adopted as the main form of paper by the Greeks as early as the 6th century B.C.E, and remained an important export of Egypt up till the 11th century C.E. Papyrus was often written on using pens made out of blunted reeds, with black ink made from carbon or red ink made from red ochre. Black ink was used mainly in the writing of hieroglyphs or hieratic text, while red ink was utilised in the writing of titles and headings in order to separate them from the rest of the main text. Papyrus existed as a common writing support for personal use such as letters, all the way to the inscribing of religious texts such as the Final Judgement of Osiris, and some of the earliest surviving versions of the New Testament. Although no longer popular in the 21st century, this material still bears great importance as one of the earliest forms of manuscript writing supports.
Reverse side of Papyrus 37, a New Testament manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew, 3rd – 4th century. Housed in the Ann Arbor Library, University of Michigan.
Bibliography
Ryan, Donald P. “Papyrus.” The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 51, no. 3, 1988. Pp. 132–140.
Capua, Rebecca. “Papyrus-Making in Egypt.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pyma/hd_pyma.htm. Accessed 22 March 2021.
Image Sources
Personal photos of items from NTU Library Collection.
Verso of papyrus 37. Unknown author.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Papyrus_37_-_verso.jpg#/media/File:Papyrus_37_-_verso.jpg. Accessed 22 March 2021.
Prepared by Joseph Leong Jie Sheng