Course:LIBR548F/2012WT1/Papyrus

Papyrus

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Papyrus is “a tall, aquatic plant, Cyperus papyrus, of the sedge family, native to the Nile valley”. First used in ancient Egypt, “in addition to serving as a writing surface, papyrus provided Egyptians with the raw material for boats, sails, shoes, clothing, rope, mats, fuel, even chewing gum”. By the time of the Napoleon’s French expedition of 1798-1801, the original species had died out in the Egyptian Nile valley .

Manufacture and History as a Writing Surface

While the earliest papyrus is a blank scroll from the tomb of Hemaka from the third millennium BC, the earliest papyri with writing dates from about 2400 BC. While initially Papyrus had grown wild, once put to practical use the crop was harvested at least once a year. Although Egyptians did not offer any specific instructions for transforming papyrus into writing material, present understanding of its manufacture is based on the description provided by Pliny the Elder (23-79 C.E.) in his Natural History and on current attempts to create the material. Harvesting of the Papyrus plant was likely to have taken place during the seasons when the Nile did not flood. The papyrus stalks, which grew from 3 meters to 6 meters were cut and collected with the flowery heads removed and tied into bundles.. Stalks were then sliced lengthwise into thin strips which would be laid side by side on a board with subsequent layers placed on top at right angles. Layers were pounded together using a mallet and then set to dry in the sun . After drying, a stone or shell was used to further smooth the papyrus surface.

Once sheets of papyrus are made, they were most often joined to create rolls. By overlapping dry sheets by approximately one to two centimeters an adhesive could then be used to join them together. The size and format of papyrus sheets and rolls varied depending on the period in Egypt For example, “the breadth of sheets varied in size from 38 to 42 cm in the Middle Kingdom, and 16 to 20 cm in the New Kingdom”. Rolls were often quartered or halved for convenience Surviving accounts from the Old Kingdom, for example, “measure between 21 and 24 cm high” (half of the original roll height) while “[o]ther accounts of the same period are 11 to 15cm high, a quartered roll”.

Scripts for Papyri

Papyri were most often used by Egyptians to write elaborate pictorial signs known as hieroglyphs. While the flexibility of this script (it could be written right to left or left to right vertically or horizontally), was well suited for elaborate and decorative iconography, simplified forms were preferred for daily administrative records. Suffice it to say, by the Middle Kingdom period text on papyri were mainly of two styles: a simplified version of the pictorial signs known as ‘cursive hieroglyphs’ and a more abbreviated form used for priestly purposes known as ‘hieratic'.

The Emergence of Manuscripts

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Papyri manuscripts have been found in tombs, but also in temple archives and the houses of ancient cities. For example, “[d]uring the excavation of the pyramid city of Sesostria II numerous rolls were found in temple archives; they consisted of administrative documents as well as literary, mathematical and medical texts” Similarly, “[i]n a tomb of the Thirteenth Dynasty in Thebes a book chest with a painted cover was found” that “contained a number of valuable tests, e.g. a papyrus devoted to geography, several medico-magical texts, a papyrus containing an ancient coronation festival play, fragments of the ‘Tale of Sinuhe’, etc.”

While these instances illustrate that the place and circumstances of some manuscripts now in our possession can be determined, for the most part this knowledge is hindered by information that is either unreliable or lacking. For example, the “Prisse Papyrus from the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty” that now resides at the Bibliotheque Royale in Paris “was purchased from the French scholar Prisse d’Avennes and it can be assumed was also found there” With the papyrus containing two books by authors who are familiar with Old Kingdom sources, “the latter part of the Instructions of Kagemni and the whole of the Maxims of Ptahhotep”, the text is assumed to date back to this period as well.

While we frequently associate papyrus with ancient Egypt and as existing in roll form, papyrus has been used during other periods in different formats. For example, papyrus was used “throughout Dynastic and Greco-Roman Egypt, into the Byzantine and early Islamic periods”, “the latest extant papyrus” being “an Arabic document dated AD 1087”. While early papyrus takes the form of whole rolls, in later periods they existed as codices or “books made up of folded sheets…much in the manner of a modern stitched hardback volume”. By the seventh and eighth centuries AD, however, papyrus production declined as the use of animal skins including parchment begins to replace this writing material.

Collections of Papyri

Book of the Dead of Ani Papyrus from the British Museum - http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/p/book_of_the_dead_of_ani.aspx

English translation of Portions of Ebers Papyrus from Bard College - http://biology.bard.edu/ferguson/course/bio407/Carpenter_et_al_(1998).pdf

The Great Harris Papyrus from the British Museum - http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/s/scene_from_the_great_harris_pa.aspx

The Schoyen Papyri Collection - http://www.schoyencollection.com/papyriIntro.html

Yale University Papyrus Collection - http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/papyrus.html

Annotated Bibliography

• Avrin, L. (1991). Scribes, Script and Books: The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Chicago: American Library Association.

This title provides a comprehensive overview of the early history of the book.

• Dictionary.com. Papyrus. Retrieved 20 September 2012 from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/papyrus

Online reference source offering definitions, historical information and links to papyrus related topics including how to make this material.

• Hussein, M. A. (1970). Origins of the Book: Egypt's Contribution to the Development of the Book from Papyrus to Codex. New York: New York Graphic Society.

While dated in comparison to the other titles listed here, this work, nonetheless, offers a thorough overview of the history of the book during ancient times and features several photographs and illustrations of papyrus.

• Leach, B., & Tait, J. (2000). "Papyrus". In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, edited by Paul T. Nicholson and Ian Shaw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 227–253.

Broader in scope than the previous title, this book covers all aspects of Egyptian craft making including boat building, pottery and painting in addition to the manufacture and production of papyrus.

• Parkinson, R., & Quirke, S. (1995). Egyptian Bookshelf: Papyrus. London: British Museum Press.

The book addresses several aspects related to papyrus including manufacturing, practical usage and storage.