In one important particular, however, affecting the primary construction of the material, there can no longer be any doubt. His text, however, is so confused, both from obscurity of style and from corruptions in the MSS., that there is much difference of opinion as to the meaning of many words and phrases employed in his narrative, and their application in particular points of detail. 11 -13) has transmitted to us of the manufacture of the writing material from the papyrus plant should be taken strictly to refer to the process followed in his own time but, with some differences in details, the same general method of treatment had doubtlessly been practised from time immemorial. The Cyperus dives is still become that it is reported that in the reign of Tiberius, owing to the scarcity and dearness of the material caused by a failure of the papyrus crop, there was a danger of the ordinary business of life being deranged (Pliny, N.H. But it seems hardly credible that the Cyperus papyrus could have sufficed for the many uses to which it is said to have been applied and we may conclude that several plants of the genus Cyperus were comprehended under the head of byblus or papyrus - an opinion which is supported by the words of Strabo, who mentions both inferior and superior qualities. If the Hebrew Omer (OM also is to be identified with the Egyptian papyrus, something may be said in favour of the tradition that the bulrushes of which the ark was composed in which the infant Moses was laid were in fact papyrus. It is to boats of this description that Isaiah probably refers in the " vessels of bulrushes upon the waters " (xviii. That the plant was itself used also as the principal material in the construction of light skiffs suitable for the navigation of the pools and shallows of the Nile, and even of the river itself, is shown by sculptures of the fourth dynasty, in which men are represented building a boat with stems cut from a neighbouring plantation of papyrus (Lepsius, Denkm. He likewise refers to the use of byblus as tow for caulking the seams of ships and the statement of Theophrastus that King Antigonus made the rigging of his fleet of the same material is illustrated by the ship's cable, ern-Nov ( 315(Ncvov, wherewith the doors were fastened when Ulysses slew the suitors in his hall ( Odyss. 92), and incidentally mentions that it provided the material of which the priests' sandals were made (ii. Herodotus, too, notices its consumption as food (ii. Its pith was also a common article of food, and was eaten both cooked and in its natural state. Of the stem of the plant were made boats, sails, mats, cloth, cords, and, above all, writing materials. Of the head nothing could be made but garlands for the shrines of the gods but the wood of the root was employed in the manufacture of different utensils as well as for fuel. The various uses to which the papyrus plant was applied are also enumerated by Theophrastus. The tufted head or umbel is likened by Pliny to a thyrsus. From this root, which lay horizontally, smaller roots pushed down into the mud, and the stem of the plant sprang up to the height of 4 cubits, being triangular and tapering in form. The first accurate description of the plant is given by Theophrastus, from whom we learn that it grew in shallows of 2 cubits (about 3 ft.) or less, its main root being of the thickness of a man's wrist and 10 cubits in length. By Herodotus it is always called f3v/3Nos. papyrus, appears to be of Egyptian origin. 10) states that it likewise grew in Syria and, according to Pliny, it was also a native plant of the Niger and Euphrates. The plant is now extinct in Lower Egypt, but is found in the Upper Nile regions and in Abyssinia. A roll was usually about one foot in height and could be up to 100 feet in length.įor a look at modern papyrus manufacture in action, check out Papyrus Making 101, an online exhibit featuring a slide show documenting the papyrus making process.The paper reed, the Cyperus Papyrus of Linnaeus, in ancient times widely cultivated in the Delta of Egypt, where it was used for various purposes, and especially as a writing material. No glue was required instead, the natural gum of the plant held the sheets together. These strips were then laid out in two layers, one horizontal and one vertical, and pressed and dried to form a papyrus sheet.įinally, many of these sheets were then joined end-to-end to form a roll. The inside of the triangular stalk was cut or peeled into long strips. In ancient Egypt, the wild plant was used for a variety of uses, and specially cultivated papyrus, grown on plantations, was used to make the writing material. The papyrus plant is a reed that grows in marshy areas around the Nile river.
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