How was papyrus stored in ancient Egypt? After all, even then scrolls became one of the most important means of transmitting information from generation to generation. The Egyptians possessed highly developed technical capabilities for their time, astronomical and medical knowledge. Obviously, recording and efficient transmission of information was an important business for them. But how was papyrus stored in this case? Let's try to figure it out.
How was papyrus stored? The short answer lies already in the manufacturing technology itself
The papyrus, which was widely used by scribes in ancient Egypt, was actually strips glued from the stem. Actually, the very name of this paper comes from the name of the papyrus plant, which grew in abundance in the swamps of northern Africa, and whose stems were used by the ancients to make writing material. Modern historians, not the least of all, owe their knowledge of the manufacturing technology of this "paper" to just one of the ancient Egyptian scribes Theophrastus, who left such notes. The strips of papyrus were cut off from the stem, after which they went through a process of careful alignment and overlapped each other. The edges were fastened with glue. Of course, the strips were seriously sorted by quality. After all, the life expectancy of further scrolls depended on it. After that, an additional strip was placed on top, which was also fastened with glue. When the papyrus leaf was
ready, it was placed under the press, from where it came out already dry and suitable for use.
How papyrus was stored before use
Thus prepared a sheet of ancient Egyptian paper could be of very different lengths. Usually they were stored in the form of scrolls. To lengthen it was necessary only from either end to add a new strip. The most impressive papyrus scroll of this kind that has survived to this day has a length of more than forty meters. The color of such paper at different times was either light brown or dark. Over the centuries, technology has changed somewhat, and the papyrus has become increasingly lighter: cream, and later almost white.
How the papyruses were stored
The scrolls were neatly rewound with laces made from flax or from the same papyrus. Knots of shoelaces were sometimes fixed with a clay seal. Scrolls important to the state, as a rule, were placed in special wooden boxes. For example, the famous papyruses that have survived to this day - Papyrus Well and Papyrus Harris - were found by archaeologists in such boxes. Their shrouds were
sealed with clay seals depicting scarabs. More popular papyruses: all sorts of documents, letters and others - the
ancient Egyptians stored, as a rule, in
clay pots.Papyrus in Europe
We know it as the main means of writing for the ancient Egyptians and we associate papyrus with them, first of all. However, ancient civilization learned a lot from the Egyptians. So, in Ancient Greece and Rome, papyrus was actively used throughout their existence, until the fall of the Roman Empire.