THE PAPYRUS AND ITS ORIGINS THE PAPYRUS AND ITS ORIGINS by Francesca Jourdan © 1999, Francesca Jourdan In use for over 41 centuries, papyrus has made its mark in an indissoluble manner to the history of humankind, from at least the third millennium BC to the eleventh century AD. Known more correctly as Cyperus papyrus L. [1] it is the most well known of 4000 species of the Cyperaceae, a family of herbaceous plants found throughout the world, especially in the swampy and marshy areas of temperate regions. ����������� Papyrus has a long principal rhizome (root stalk) with its roots descending vertically.� In certain conditions, its stems can reach a height of 6 meters (19.68ft) and a diameter of 10cm (3.9in).� The stem consists of long fibers forming a stalk (inflorescence), which, when closed, takes the form of a high goblet.

This, when open, becomes a large umbrella comprised of subtle stems.� Small triangular leaves surround the rhizome [2] .� The elegance of the plant is not just in its structure but also in its colors: from the particularly intense emerald green of its stem to the straw-yellow of its umbrella, becoming reddish in the stamens. ����������� The date at which the Greeks began to use papyrus paper is unknown, but it is thought to have been during the VII century AD.� Nor is it known when it arrived for the first time in Rome, where the �liber� replaced it [3] .� It seems to have been prior to 273 BC, year during which Ptolemy II Philadelphus intensified his relationships with Rome.� It is generally believed that the Romans learnt of papyrus paper through Magna Grecia.

����������� It was wrongly thought that Egypt was the only producer of papyri paper.� In reality it was produced elsewhere, in Syria for example.� The making of the material did not necessarily have to take place where the plant grew; even in Egypt stems coming from other countries could be used.� Egypt was the producer par excellence in the ancient world of the papyrus and paper, due to the face that the plant grew in large quantities, both in the Delta and along the Nile.� In the Egyptian language, the paper was called djet or tjufi, [4] ; such a figure was also used as a determinative of the name Ta-mehu, �Nile Delta� or �Lower Egypt� [5] .� The plant was called uag, word transcribed with the figure of the same plant; the term also meant �green, fresh, prosper� and �column in papyrus shape�.

����������� In Greek, at least in the VI-V century BC, the plant was called byblos, which meant �written roll of papyrus�, �book�, and in its plural form, �papers, pieces of papyrus�.� Starting from the IV century BC, the plant was also named papyros.� It seems however that this last term indicated the plant in relation to its capacity to produce material destined as alimentation, while byblos seemed to designate the same source of bark and fiber which paper and other objects of daily use were made from.� Romans called the plant papyrus or papyrum, an expression which stood for �paper� to write [6] . ����������� In ancient times, the papyrus grew in abundance in Egypt, in the coastal regions of Ethiopia, along the Niger river, near the Tiberiade lake in Palestine, and along the Euphrates near Babylon.� Today the plant grows in many areas of tropical Africa, on the coasts of rivers or lakes: it can be found along the lakes in Chad, in Ethiopia, and by the Victoria and Tanganyika lakes and along the high Nile of Uganda and Sudan [7] .

����������� According to Corrado Basile, founder of the �Museo del Papiro� of Syracuse, papyrus originated in zones of fluvial basins.� As a natural species, it disappeared from Egypt between 1055 and 1061, due to the Nile waters being hit heavily by a disastrous drought [8] .� The saline degree in lakes along which it grew became particularly high: the plant, salt being one of its main enemies disappeared completely in the space of a few short years.� Consequently, the work of writing paper was abandoned.� In Egypt, it had totally vanished following the Napoleonic expedition (1798-1801).� Today it is cultivated in Cairo at the Institute directed by Hassan Ragab, to satisfy the tourists� demand [9] .

����������� Papyrus at its natural state can only be found in two areas of the Mediterranean: at Fiumefreddo, near Catania in Italy and in the Valley of the Jordanian [10] .� Although it is generally thought that the plant first appeared in Sicily in the third century BC from Ptolemaic Egypt, until now at least, relative testimonials to its presence on the island in ancient times has been difficult to find. One particular document dates from 599 AD in Palermo.� The Arab writer Abu Bakir Abdallah gives another testimonial of the plant in Palermo dating to the '900s. ����������� In the Syracuse area, papyrus, which was called pappera, and, more commonly, parrucca [11] (from its umbrella which recalls a wig), was pointed out for the first time in 1674 by Paolo Silvio Boccone [12] , who noted it in a peninsula of the area.� Nowadays it grows for cultivation along the Cyan river, located in Pantano Magno [13] .

����������� The oldest source which mentions papyrus along the Cyan goes back to 1760, when the historian-archeologist Cesare Gaetani della Torre identified it on the river banks [14] .� In any case, it is very probable that it grew before that period, but that nobody had identified it as the Nile�s plant [15] .� In the 1700s, the Cyan papyrus was one of the major attractions of foreign travelers in Sicily.� The indiscriminate cut of the stems worked by the farm workers, who used it among other things as a fodder to attach straw, already in those times jeopardized the plant�s existence. ����������� In 1780, the philologist-archeologist Saverio Landolina Nava [16] , who studied the antique techniques of the making of papyrus paper, asked and obtained from King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon permission for it to be put under protection.

The King of Naples, glory accorded him by the ownership of a collection of famous papyri (discovered between 1752 and 1754 in Villa dei Pisoni), named the same man, Landolina, superintendent for the safeguard of the plant. ����������� Nevertheless, in the last two centuries, interventions for improving the area of the Sicilian papyrus to avoid floods on the lands of the Cyan river, works for enlarging the river stream, withdrawals of water samples for industrial purposes, etc. have constantly altered the fragile ecosystem which constitutes the ideal environment for the growth of papyrus [17] .� The reclamation of the area of Pantano Magno, started in 1885, drained the swamps, ending the spontaneity of the papyrus along the Cyan: from that moment on, it was necessary for the� plant to be transplanted.

����������� Today the conditions are far from ideal.� Since 1984 the Cyan and its papyri have been part of a natural reserve, which the Regional Province of Syracuse should be safeguarding: since 1974, an undiscriminatory withdrawal of the river waters for industrial and farming purposes has resulted in continuous modifications of the land level; with the excessive level of salt in these waters, owing to the progressive penetration of sea water, these withdrawals irreparably damages the plant hastening its disappearance. Many times, Corrado Basile, director of the �Museo del Papiro� in Syracuse, has courageously denounced the risks that the river is facing with its plants, proposing possible remedies [18] .

����������� Founded in 1989, the �Museo del Papiro� of Syracuse [19] is an institution which consists of research activity on the papyrus plant, on its transformation into a writing support and on the restoration of antique papyri.� Thanks to forty years of study on Egyptian and Sicilian plants and on papyri from pharaonic to Byzantine times, it is now possible to reconstruct the techniques used for its making.� Basile is capable of replicating identical antique papyrus by singling out and making the indispensable white color [20] , used in Egypt to assure the preservation in time of the papyrus papers and from insect attack.

����������� The papyrus stem was considered edible [21] .� Herodotus, who visited Egypt from 449 to 430 BC, confirmed that the aborigines, after having cut the superior part of the stem (used for other purposes) would eat the inferior part (roughly one cubit [18in, 46cm] in length), maintaining that the best way to prepare it was in a burning oven [22] .� However, it could also be eaten raw or boiled [23] .� In any case, its juice was sucked and its pulp spitted, a custom mentioned by Aristophanes in a famous passage of the Frogs. By playing with the double meaning of the word byblos, [24] referring both to the plant and the book, he ridiculed Euripides, who sucked the juice from the books as the Egyptians did from papyrus.

����������� The lack of wood, always affecting the Egyptian economy, made more precious the papyrus root, which the Egyptians used as alimentation and for making utensils.� Pliny the Elder described other uses of the plant from which, both in pharaonic and Graeco-Roman times, boats, sails, mats, clothes, covers, cords, and �many other things� were made [25] .� One typical object of daily life was the basket: in fact, according to the Old Testament, little Moses was left in the Nile waters inside a papyrus basket.� Many diverse samples of baskets, mats and shoes made with the plant have survived, and date back as far as the pharaonic era.� According to Herodotus, the Egyptian priests could only wear linen clothing and papyrus shoes; a papyrus mat was the ritual cover of the tabernacle of the god Osiris.� The plant was often represented in the hands of goddesses, as a symbol of eternal freshness; the papyrus was often reproduced in the daily life scenes painted on tomb walls.

����������� In the Greek world, there are diverse testimonials of papyri cords.� Herodotus mentions that the cords Serse used to build a bridge were made of papyri while, according to Pliny the Elder, Antigono Monoftalmo (381-301 BC) used only ropes of papyrus for naval equipment. ����������� In Egypt, already in ancient times, embarkations of small dimensions were made out of the stems of the plant, tied together.� The small embarkations were used for picking papyri, hunting and fishing and fishing (according to wall paintings), whereas the large ones were destined for the transportation of heavy weights and for long trips. ����������� Light and beneficial for the minimum draught, small embarkations were an ideal means of transport in the extended Nile canals.� The relief of Kom Ombo depicting Ptolemy III Evergete is famous: he stands on an elegant papyrus raft in a swamp rich of plants and birds.� Egyptian literature gives us testimonials of diverse papyri embarkations.� One can remember the exploits of the Norwegian Thor Heyerdhal, who with his two papyri boats Ra I e Ra II managed to cross the Atlantic.

����������� Most people in Egypt continuously used the plant; yet its most important use was the making of writing paper, whose labor was costly.� The Hymn to Hapy, composed around 2025-1700 BC, states the origin of this writing support: �All hieroglyphic writing is the work of the flood, from the moment that they are made of rushes� [26] .� As already pointed out, the making of the papyrus paper in Egypt goes back to at least 3000 BC.� A non-used roll of papyrus, to be used by the dead, was found in the Saqqara necropolis, inside the tomb of the high functionary Hemaka, dating it to 3035 BC [27] .� The most ancient papyri written in Egyptian are fragments of accounting books, discovered in a temple at el-Gebelein, from the reign of King Neferirkara of the V Dynasty (2500 BC) [28] .

����������� One source for the knowledge of ancient technique of making the papyrus paper illustrates, so to say, the first phase of the process.� It is a color relief conserved on the wall of a Theban tomb, that of Puyemra, which goes back to the XVIII dynasty (1400 BC): it depicts three successive moments of the picking and the preparations of the plant�s stems. ����������� To the left is an embarkation, on which stand several men: one, stretching out to the prow, pulls the stems up from the roots; a second man, in the boat -controlled by a third man-, ties them in strips; to the right of the relief, on the shore, a fourth man carries a strip of stems on his back, in order to hand it over to a fifth person, who, sitting on a bench, is pealing the stems, deprived of their inflorescence [29] .

����������� A description of Pliny the Elder illustrates the successive phases of its manufacture: from paragraphs 74-82 of book XIII in Natural History [30] , it is possible to draw out the technique adopted in that time [31] .� The stem of the plant was cut with a knife from top to bottom into long strips (philyrae), a few centimeters large and a dozen long.� These were placed side by side and other strips laid across them at right angles.� Then the two layers were placed together and the whole sheet (schida) dried and pressed [32] : together they became a perfectly resistant paper (plagula, in Latin; kollema, in Greek). ����������� Therefore, in the making of the paper, there was no need for glue [33] : the inside of the plant contains a glutinous substance, which under pressure makes the strips stick together.� Glue, made with flour, was used to unite to one another a certain number of papers in order to form a roll (charta, volumen, in Latin; chartes, tomos, in Greek).

����������� The inevitable harshness of the area was eliminated with a hammer or weight [34] , or with the tusk of an elephant or a boar: the more the paper was smooth, the easier the brush ran on the paper.� The brush was the instrument used to write on papyrus.� It had, in pharaonic times, a soft and frayed end, like a paintbrush, and in Greek and Roman times, a hard and acute end. Papyrus paper darkened with the passing of time, attacked by insects and deteriorated because of humidity [35] .� For this, before being put on the market, it was treated with a series of substances, only recently singled out, which had the function of maintaining the paper uniformly clear. Contemporarily, resin and oil resin were used to preserve paper from a high risk of humidity or insects, and to pigment the fibers.

Contrarily to what was thought, once written, the papyrus could be rolled up on itself [36] .� Only in a few cases, in Greek and Roman times, when the roll was of medium-high height, in order to preserve the delicate papyri fibers, avoiding their continuous contact, it was rolled up around a rod (umbilicus, in Latin; omphalòs, in Greek) of wood, bone or even, in luxurious samples, gold.� In Greek and Roman times, the roll could be preserved preciously, by putting around it a cover of parchment red- or yellow-colored with animal or vegetal substances.

� Pliny enumerates eighth types of papyri paper [37] : Augusta, Livia, hieratica, amphitheatrica, Fanniana, Saitica, Taeneotica, emporetica; their height varied from 24 cm for the Augusta to 11 cm for the emporetica.� The finest and most precious paper was the hieratica (or regia); in Roman times, the supremacy passed to Augusta (named after Ottaviano Augusto) and to Livia.� Less precious of all was the amphitheatrica, made in the vicinity of the amphitheater of Alexandria.� In Rome, a certain Fanio managed to rework it, obtaining a more subtle and better paper, called charta Fanniana.� The emporetica was used to roll up merchandise [38] .

� The most precious papyri paper was that which, finely structured, presented itself particularly subtle, smooth, consistent and white.� The paper made in pharaonic times was certainly better than that of Greek and Roman epoch.� Over time, the technique of its fabrication became less sophisticated and masterly, as is evidenced by the paper becoming thicker.� So much so that, after the third century AD, it resembled cardboard [39] . � If hieroglyphic writing had only a limited propagation outside of Egypt, it cannot be said the same for its particular technique.� Two diverse methods were found since the invention of writing: that of Mesopotamians which consisted in engraving on argile; and that of Egyptians, with their tracing of ink on papyrus - the only one surviving.� Writing on papyrus is one of the important inheritance left us from Ancient Egypt.� Our paper and pens are only the modern writing utensils the Egyptian scribe used.� Many occidental languages have kept a trace of this.� In most of them, doesn�t the word designating �paper� derive directly from the Egyptian paper-aâ, papyrus?

Origin of Papyrus The origin and its spreading The origins of a multipurpose plant Belonging to the family of Cyperaceae, the papyrus grew along the banks of the Nile. While it was disappearing from Egypt, this plant flourished abundant in Syria, Palestine, Northern Africa and in some parts of Southern Italy, among those Syracuse. As for the origin and the species, the Cyperus Papyrus, still abundant in Syracuse, grew hither and thither in other few parts of Sicily. Great scholars as Chivenda, in despite of Pampanini, started academic controversies, but we should still consider the problem unsolved. It was in fact observed by many modem authors, in encyclopaedias and treatises, that this plant was imported by Arabians; however we certainly know that this plant was yet in Sicily since the period of Saint Gregory the Great (first centuries A.D.). An interesting news, taken from the volume entitled "Archimedes and his time", is that papyrus was imported in Syracuse in the Medieval Age by some rich Egyptian families living in Migdol, nearby the Pelusios Lake.

These families, in order to escape the Turkish invasions, emigrated to Syracuse, importing the sugar cane and the papyrus that they seeded in their new lands near the banks of the Anapo River and the Ciane Spring, which are situated in Tremilia and Lumidòro (Lumidòro is also called Midòlo by the inhabitants of Melilli). Both these plants prospered and nourished the paper and sugar production markets. Therefore the papyrus belongs to the Cyperus gender and presents 2 to 4 metres high specimens, with dipped into the humid soil enlarged creeping rootstock and with the lower part of the stem underwater. The triangular-section stem is erect and not branched. At the base, the stem is characterised by many leaf sheathings similar to those we find in the grass, but here they do not end in leaf blades. On the top of the stem there is the characteristic umbella of the inflorescence, made up of lots of threadlike branches. At the base of the inflorescence there is a sheath of lanceolate bracts.

Every branch of the inflorescence, long about 50 cm, is enveloped at the base by a sticking sheath, a few centimetres long, and ends on the top with a ear of flowers. The flower is hermaphrodite, that is to say it contains the stamina and the three pistils. The perigonium (calyx and corolla) is almost absent or reduced to few little squamas. It is to this plant that our knowledge of culture and poetry of many ancient Mediterranean civilizations, the history of the early Christianity and the usages and customs of that period is linked. The papy rus, before the paper was invented, was the nourishment of Egyptians. They used to eat it raw, boiled or roasted and they used to chew it and to drink the juice, too. They made beds, sails, shoes for the priests and with the flowers the made wreaths for the gods. The root was used for the same uses of the wood. The stalk contain very soft medulla that reduced in overlapping crossed strips, then soaked and squeezed, lets to obtain a very good paper for writing (the merit of this discovery is to be attributed to the ancient Egyptians).

Flourishing and celebrated industries bloomed in Egypt and Phoenicia from the third century A.D.. Some papyri discovered in Egypt are more than 45 m long. The study of the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman or middle Eastern papyri found out in the archaeological excavations is called papyrology. Among the Italian scholars Peyron, Mai, Vitelli, Orvieto are well-known, jointly to others belonging to the Milanese school. Due to the fragility of the material by which they are made, many papyri were lost. Egyptian Papyrus Historically Contact Us About us Tour Egypt aims to offer the ultimate Egyptian adventure and intimate knowledge about the country. We offer this unique experience in two ways, the first one is by organizing a tour and coming to Egypt for a visit, whether alone or in a group, and living it firsthand. The second way to experience Egypt is from the comfort of your own home: online. Egyptian Papyrus Historically Historical Papyrus By Jimmy Dunn Our English word "paper", is derived from the word "papyrus", an Egyptian word that originally meant "that which belongs to the house" (the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt).

At about the same time as the ancient Egyptians moved from prehistory to history by developing a written language , they discovered the need for a medium other than stone to transcribe upon. They found this in their papyrus plant, a triangular reed which symbolized ancient lower Egypt. It was light, strong, thin, durable and easy to carry, and for thousands of years, there was nothing better for the purpose of writing. The earliest extant documented papyrus comes from Egypt's 1st Dynasty , but we believe it may have been used as early as 4,000 BC. It's use continued until about the 11th century AD. Besides its use for producing a medium for writing purposes, papyrus was also used for mattresses on beds, for building chairs, tables, and other furniture as well as for mats, baskets, boxes, sandals, utensils, rope and boats. Furthermore, the papyrus root was a source of food, medicine and perfume. Papyrus was, and continues today to be made from the papyrus reed that grows in freshwater marshes along the river Nile , though today this growth is rare and controlled. Technically, it is Cyperus papyrus, a part of the sedge family.

The plant grows to a height of about ten feet. After harvesting, the outer fibers are peeled away and the core of the stalk and sliced into very thin strips that are as broad as possible. The best of these strips, from the perspective of quality, comes from the center. Progressively, the quality of the papyrus strips decline as the strips are taken further from the center of the yellowish-white pith. These strips are next soaked in water to remove the sugar content. Next, the strips are pounded and the water drained away, after which they are placed side by side, overlapping slightly. A second set of strips are placed at right angles to the first, again overlapping slightly. Next, this raw papyrus sheet is pounded once again, and left under a heavy weight (usually a stone slab) to dry for approximately six days. The remaining sugar within this concoction seals the strips together. Finally, after drying the surface of the sheet is polished to a smooth finish by rubbing (for example, with a shell or a piece of smooth ivory). Though during various periods of Egyptian history, this process could be slightly different, some papyrus continues to be made in a similar manner even today, for artistic purposes.

For example, Pliny, during the Greek period, describes the process somewhat differently and included information on the various grades of Papyrus: For practical purposes, the papyrus was limited to a standard size running 47 cm in length at the most (29-33 cm on the average), and 22 cm in width, though by no means was this always so, particularly over Egypt's long history. For longer documents, these pages were joined to create a papyrus roll (scroll). In fact, papyrus sheets were usually not sold individually, but in rolls (of about 20 sheets), with the fibers running in the same direction, except for the end sheets, which were reversed in order to add stringth. However, in later periods, we also find papyrus books, called codex, which finally triumphed over the roll. Just like there are many different kinds and qualities of paper today, the same was true for papyrus. Each type was used for a different purpose. Very cheaply made coarse papyrus was used by merchants to wrap items. The finest and most expensive varieties were reserved for religious or literary works. Quality depended upon a number of factors.

Where the papyrus plants were grown, the age of the plants, the season when they were harvested, and most importantly, the layer of pith used in manufacture were all factors that affected the quality of the finished product. The finest papyrus was made using the innermost pith layers and was said to have come from the Delta region. A typical roll was usually constructed of papyrus sheets of varying quality. The best sheets would be used for its ends, since they received the most wear and tear, and lesser quality sheets for its inner sections. To add additional strength and help prevent fraying, at the end margins, a strip of papyrus would be glued along the ends of the roll. In some cases, each end of the scroll would be wound around a stick (called an umbicus) which had attached cords to keep the roll from unraveling. The various varieties and sizes of papyrus were often named in honor of emperors or officials. This information, particularly during the Roman and Byzantine periods , was written on the first sheet of a roll and was called a protocol. Additionally, the protocol often included the date and place of manufacture of the papyrus. Generally, the protocol would be cut off before using the roll.

However, for legal documents, this practice was forbidden by the Laws of Justinian. The practice of adding a protocol to a finished papyrus roll continued into Islamic times. Usually, the ancient Egyptians and others only wrote on one side of the papyrus, with the sheet oriented so that the fibers ran horizontally (recto). Rarely was there actually graphics applied to papyrus, particularly outside ancient religious matter. Egyptian rulers realizing the importance of Papyrus, made its production a state monopoly, and guarded the secret of Papyrus jealously. Soon, Egyptians were even exporting their papyrus "paper", though outside of Egypt, not much of it has survived. This is due to the climate of Egypt and a few parts of Mesopotamia, where the dry climate is conducive to such preservation. However, Papyri have also been found in Asia and Europe. Few fragments of papyri from the classic period have been found in Greece, though dozens of drawings of rolls and papyri appear on vases of the same period. Of course, there was a concentration of papyrus in the debris of ancient towns and the necropolises of Egypt.

In the external history of the discoveries the most noteworthy feature is that so many of the papyri have been dug up with the spade from Egyptian rubbish-heaps. The fact that so many of the papryi are found among the dust-heaps of ancient cities is a valuable indication of their general significance. The multitude of papyri from the Fayoum and a few other locations, do not, as was at first supposed, but simply the everyday trash of ancient civilization. Furthermore, in Egypt, papyrus was recycled in the form of mummy cartonnage. In the mummification process , the ancient Egyptians first prepared the corpses and wrapped them in linen. Then they covered the deceased with pieces of cartonnage covered with plaster and painted in bright colors. This cartonnage, at least in certain periods of Egyptian history, consisted of several layers of papyrus usually discarded by administrative offices. Actually, the largest percentage of papyrus that has survived was written during the Greco - Roman Period of Egyptian history and afterwards, from about the late fourth century BC until the middle of the seventh century AD. Most of this text is written in Greek.

After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, almost all administration of Egypt was largely conducted in Greek, and this remained so even after the Romans took control of Egypt. In fact, Greek continued to be used for this administrative purposes even after the Arab conquest in 642 AD. However, there also remains considerable text written in Coptic, Latin and Arabic on papyrus as well as some Hieratic and more commonly, Demotic Egyptian . The ancient subject matter recorded on papyrus can be extremely varied, and can include literature, religious texts, magical texts and even instrumental music. Religious topics recorded on Papyrus can include subjects related to ancient religions both in Egypt and outside, as well as biblical, including early Christian text. That biblical literature was originally written on papyrus (rather than on parchment) is evident from archaeological finds and textual analysis. In wadi Murbaat (near the Dead Sea) a papyrus has been found from the 7th century BC, and another one, dating from the 4th century BC, has been found above Jericho.

These findings support the scholarly claim that the "books" mentioned in the Bible (Jer 36; 15,16; Ezek 2,8-3,3) were actually written on papyrus. Over 800 scrolls have been found in Qumran (The Dead Sea Scrolls), of which more than 60 (8%) are papyrus scrolls. However, a large body of papyrus documentation exits on administrative matters such as official tax accounts, private documents from tax receipts to letters, court documents and others. In fact, these texts illustrate life in ancient Egypt under Greek and Roman rule in all its aspects, and the study of this body of information is called papyrology. The first recorded purchase of papyri by European visitors to Egypt was in 1778. In that year a nameless dealer in antiquities bought from some peasants a papyrus roll of documents from the year 191 - 192 AD., and looked on while they set fire to fifty or so others simply to enjoy the aromatic smoke that was produced.

Since that date an enormous quantity of inscribed papyri in all possible languages, of ages varying from a thousand to nearly five thousand years, have been recovered from the magic soil of the ancient seats of civilization in the Nile Valley. From about 1820 to 1840 the museums of Europe acquired quite a respectable number of papyri from Memphis and Letopolis in Middle Egypt, and from This, Panopolis , Thebes (modern Luxor ), Hermonthis , Elephantine , and Syene (Aswan) in Upper Egypt. Not many scholars took any notice of them at first, and only a very few read and profited by them. The next decisive event, apart from isolated finds, was the discovery of papyri in the province of El-Fayoum (Middle Egypt) in 1877. To the north of the capital, Medinet el-Fayoum , lay a number of mounds of rubbish and debris, marking the site of the ancient "City of Crocodiles," afterwards called "The City of the Arsinotes," and these now yielded up hundreds and thousands of precious sheets and scraps.

Since then there has been a rapid succession of big finds, which have not ceased even yet: we are still in a period of important discoveries. The job of the papyrologist can be considerably difficult. By far, the majority of the some 50,000 papyri published since 1788 (out of an estimated 400,000 preserved in collections around the world) are very fragmentary. Hence, the work of a papyrologist not only involves deciphering, transcribing and editing this material, but also reconstructing very complex puzzles. Most fragments of literature have come from rolls of papyrus, which could extend up to some 35 feet in length. For a while, papyrus actually disappeared from the Egyptian landscape after the invention of paper. The Egyptian placed an embargo on exporting papyrus at the end of the 7th century AD led the way to parchment, and later on to 'modern' paper, the successor to the papyrus.

'Ground' paper (the predecessor of modern paper) was invented in China in the second century AD, but reached western Asia only after the Muslim conquest of Turkistan in 751 Hence, Arabs introduced a process for making pulp paper, which they learned from Chinese prisoners. Though this new paper was less durable then papyrus, it was also easier and far less expensive to make. Gradually, the Egyptians abandoned the production of {Papyrus paper and neglected the cultivation of their papyrus plantations. Eventually, papyrus itself disappeared from the Egyptian landscape. Papyrus making was not revived until around 1969. An Egyptian scientist named Dr. Hassan Ragab reintroduced the papyrus plant to Egypt from the Sudan and started a papyrus plantation near Cairo on Jacob Island. He also had to research the method of production. Unfortunately, the ancient Egyptians left little evidence about the manufacturing process. There are no extant texts or wall paintings and archaeologists have failed to uncover any manufacturing centers. Most of our knowledge about the actual manufacturing process is derived from its description in Pliny the elder's Natural History and modern experimentation. Dr.

Ragab finally figured out how it was done, and now papyrus making is back in Egypt after a very long absence. Notation: Modern Egyptian papyrus art is available in our on-line store for Egypt lovers, the Virtual Khan el-Khalili . See also: Egyptian Papyrus | Ancicent Paper | Egypt | Plant | Cyperus | Papyri | Tourist Attraction Hate 4 Long before there were textbooks, newspapers or email , the Egyptians came up with a way to record history. They designed their own paper called papyrus from reeds. The word 'paper' comes from the Egyptian word 'papyrus' which means "that which belongs to the house." Where Does Papyrus Come From? Papyrus is made from a plant that grows on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. The aquatic plant, Cyperus papyrus, grows up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) high. Its green, triangular stem has long, sharp leaves and flower clusters 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 cms) long. These flowers bloom at the tip.

Egyptians used the stem of the plant for several purposes like making mattresses, chairs and boats but the most popular use was making papyrus. How Is Papyrus Made? One Roman writer wrote a detailed description of how papyrus was made. He said the outside layer of the stem was removed. The inner layer of the plant was sliced into long strips and placed side by side with a second layer on top at a right angle. Then the whole thing was soaked in water and pressed under a heavy rock for 21 days. The juice of the plant acted like glue and bonded the strips together. The outcome was a sheet, which was hammered flat and dried in the sun . Papyrus - Did U Know? Ancient Greeks and Romans started using the same method to make papyrus. If papyrus has writing on it, we call it papyri. Few papyri that were made outside Egypt survived. The climate of Egypt and certain parts of Mesopotamia preserved papyri in the ruins of ancient towns and cemeteries. Egyptians used papyrus for 4000 years until other plants and trees were used to make paper for economical reasons. Papyrus is still made, but normally only as a tourist attraction.

Related Stories: Papyrus | Define Papyrus at Dictionary.com papyrus [puh-pahy-rahy, -ree] /pəˈpaɪ raɪ, -ri/ (Show IPA), papyruses. 1. a tall, aquatic plant, Cyperus papyrus, of the sedge family, native to the Nile valley: the Egyptian subspecies, C. papyrus hadidii, thought to be common in ancient times, now occurs only in several sites. 2. a material on which to write, prepared from thin strips of the pith of this plant laid together, soaked, pressed, and dried, used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. 3. an ancient document, manuscript, or scroll written on this material. Origin of papyrus Papyrus: A Blessing Upon Pharaoh, Occasional Paper | McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture Papyrus: A Blessing Upon Pharaoh, Occasional Paper by Elaine A. Evans, Curator, Adjunct Assistant Professor, McClung Museum Figure 1. Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) Grove in Sicily. Courtesy of W. V. Davies.

My lecture this afternoon will be a brief introduction to the vital and indispensable flowering fresh-water reed of ancient Egypt called by its scientific name Cyperus papyrus L (Figure 1). It made an extraordinary and historical impact on the Western world. But papyrus paper was not its only use. There were many things made from this most adaptable and extraordinary plant, which grew in great abundance along the banks and in the marshes watered by the great Nile River. As the German Egyptologist Georg Ebers, known for a famous Ebers Papyrus named after him wrote, “It was of the greatest consequence for Egyptian industrial arts that one of the most useful plants the world has ever known grew in every marsh. The papyrus reed was used as a universal material by the Egyptians, like the bamboo or the coco-nut palm by other nations; it was the more useful as it formed a substitute for wood, which was never plentiful.”1 Figure 2. Gathering of Papyrus. From the Tomb of Piumra, Dynasty XVIII, Thebes Today, we will explore the botanical characteristics of papyrus and explain its numerous uses in the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians.

Papyrus is quite a fun plant and it will amaze you in how many ways it pervaded the lives of the ancients. Papyrus played an important role in keeping their land vigorous and humming with energetic activity. The pharaohs of Egypt were blessed. Papyrus is one of the most ancient plants known to humankind. Egypt is believed to be its place of origin. The tall, willowy plant predates the Dynastic Period. Thanks to the high level of their cultural development, the ancient Egyptians, so attuned to their natural environment, were able to uncover all of its merits and potentialities for practical useage. Throughout the dynastic periods, papyrus brought nothing but satisfaction and benefits to Pharaoh and his people. We can visualize more clearly the activity the plant created from tomb wall paintings, which depict ancient papyrus collection and production (Figure 2.). Workers pulled the stalks up from the marshes, tied the stalks in bundles and carried them to the workshops for processing. Travellers and the Illusive Plant In early times, visitors from other ancient cultures came to Egypt and were impressed by the luxuriant Cyperus papyrus plant growing so abundantly everywhere.

According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, circa 450 BC, papyrus was “plucked from the marshes, the top cut off and turned to other ends, and the lower part…eaten or sold.”2. We have an early statement from the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (AD 23-29), who wrote about the plant growing in the marshes and sluggish waters of the Nile to a height of fifteen feet in Book XIII, 71, of his encyclopedic Natural History. Figure 3. Napoleon’s Troops at the Pyramids in 1798. From La Description de l’Égypte. The stately, green plant, called djet or tjufi by the ancient Egyptians, played such an important utilitarian role in their daily life, but today, sadly, it has almost disappeared from Egypt. When exactly this happened is not known. But it is believed by some the original plant died out along the Nile River before the time Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Egypt with his troops in 1798 (Figure 3.).

The plant is not recorded in Napoleon’s famous French publication of the early 19th century entitled La Description de l’Égypte, which included a section devoted to the flora and fauna of Egypt. This circumstance led some scholars to believe the plant had disappeared. Controversy began between botanists. Questions were asked, but answers were few in coming. Early Arab writers such as Ibn Gulgul in AD982 had mentioned the plant growing tall in the Nile marshes. Much later, the French naturalist Pierre Belon in 1546-49, noted papyrus in Egypt and later the Italian doctor and botanist Prosper Alpinus in 1580. However, the famous Swedish explorer and botanist Fredrik Hasselquist did not see the plant in his travels of 1749-50.

But in his pioneering book of 1790, Select Specimens of Natural History collected in Travels to discover the Source of the Nile in Egypt, Arabia, Abyssinia, and Nubia, the Scottish traveller James Bruce (1730-1794), wrote about the papyrus growing in Egypt and expressed his thoughts about where it came from: “The papyrus seem to me to have early come down from Ethiopia, and to have been used in Upper Egypt….” 3 Figure 4 Engraving of Papyrus, circa 1790. From J. Bruce, Select Specimens of Natural History. London 1790. Bruce does not describe the plant in detail, but the engraving (Figure 4) appears as an illustration in his book and it compares favorably with the plant found several years later growing in Egypt. In 1820-1821, Baron Heinrich C. M.

Minutoli (1772-1846), a Prussion army officer, found various places of growth in the Nile Delta at Damietta, one hundred and twenty-five miles north-north-east of Cairo on the East Bank of the Nile River, and also on the banks of the once six hundred-sixty square mile Lake Manzala. However, in 1897, the distinguished French botanist G. Delchevalerie, an author of several books on the plants of Egypt, referred in his writings to the complete extinction of papyrus in Egypt. He said:: “We were obliged to A. Riviere, Chief gardener of Luxembourg, at Paris, that we gave 12 plants which were brought to Egypt in 1872 and plants to Choubra [near Cairo] and in other gardens at Cairo.”4 Some scholars believe the specie growing in Egypt, today, is probably the result of these plants brought from France.

However, the botanists Vivi Täckholm and Mohammed Drar, though, claimed in their 1950 book Flora of Egypt that the once believed extinct Cyperus papyrus was redis`covered in Umm Risha Lake in Wadi Natrun. Also, in his 1980 book Le Papyrus, Hassan Ragab, Director of the Papyrus Institute of Cairo, closely analyzed the Wadi Natrun papyrus, which he believes to be the ancient plant, and the same as found in Nubia and the Sudan. The species Cyperus papyrus is a sub-species from the family Cyperaceae, or sedges, a large family of grasslike plants of probably four thousand species known in various parts of the world. It is a tall flowering freshwater reed, which had at one time grown in great abundance in the marshes along the Nile River. The plant had flourished well in these abundant waters, in the rich, wet and muddy areas, which provided its nourishment. According to W. T.

Thiselton-Dyer in 1875:“The reason of its disappearance is probably to be sought, not in any change of climate but in the physical conditions of the river—perhaps the periodical rise and fall of its water—not enabling it to hold its ground without human intervention.” 5 Also, the Delta silted up and around the 12th century BC made it a salty swamp. Papyrus, a fresh water plant, was doomed. Much later when paper was produced from material other than papyrus, the plant was no longer necessary to be cultivated and it died out. Characteristics of Papyrus The Cyperus papyrus investigated by Hassan Ragab will be a good example to better understand its splendid features. Hassan Ragab received the First Order of the Republic from President Anwar Sadat, in recognition of his important contributions to Egypt and in particular for his work with Egyptian papyrus. A closer look at theCyperus papyrus will bring into focus a few of its main botanical characteristics. Although Hassan Ragab explains the plant in great detail, only part of its very complicated structure will be highlighted, excluding its intricate cell system. Figure 5. The Umbel. From H.

Ragab, Le Papyrus. Cairo 1980. A mature, flowering umbel (Figure 5.) is composed of slim, twig-like, shoots merges from its stalk. The umbel, or whole cluster of spikelet-flowers on their respective, drooping stems, or numerous fine umbelrays, makes the umbel resemble a parasol, or a fan. Each plant has a tall, smooth stalk, which supports the umbel. Stalks reach a height of four meters or more. It is three cornered, robust, sleek, leafless, without knots, tapered in form and thick at the base, where it is surrounded by broad, spear-shaped leaves. The tough leaves are at the base of the stalk. These sheath-like scales differ among the many species of Cyperus. In the case of theCyperus papyrus, the base leaves are covered by the water of the marsh and are maroon color. (In other species of the Cyperus, the leaves develop to very great heights above the water, but are green color.) They function in sunlight to assimilate chlorophyll and converts carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates.

The number of the maroon colored leaves vary from five to nine, with an average of seven. The longest of the leaves is nearest to the stem. Where do umbels and stalks come from? They emerge from what is called the rhizome, a horizontal, root-like stem that sends out shoots from its lower surface and leafy shoots from its upper surface. When we speak of rhizomes we think of a subterranean root, the first growth of a plant, usually in a horizontal position, often thick and containing the reserves for nourishment. Czech Egyptologist Jaroslav Cerny has described the rhizome as being “… completely submerged in water and mud, but several stems sprang from a single root, often reaching three-six metres in height and ending at the top with flowers.”6 Figure 6. The Rhizome. From H. Ragab, Le Papyrus. Cairo 1980. The illustration (Figure 6.) shows the evolution of a young rhizome as it grows horizontally from an ancient decayed rhizome. The vertical shoots terminate where supports of the tiny roots are developing into aeriated young stems.

The spike is a long flower cluster composed of branching, spike-like buds, which have sprung from their central stalk. The support for the spike grows in a variety of lengths and the buds vary in number on each stalk. Each spike has as many as twelve flowers, which are like husks. They have no calyx nor corolla, i.e., outer base leaves nor inner petals or leaves. Figure 7. Development of the Umbel. From H. Ragab, Le Papyrus. Cairo 1980. There are three stages of development of the umbel (Figure 7.). The stalk-structure opens out from the scale-like, thick pointed leaves of the stem. Tiny, slim spokes, or leaves, emerge from their sheaths to form the fan-like umbel. A spike, or flower cluster, is centered on each of the joins on the slim, drooping stalks. Papyrus Paper Of course when we think of ancient Egypt we think of papyrus paper. Egypt was its inventor. Actually we probably think of papyrus as paper when we think of it at all. True, the principle importance of papyrus was as a surface for writing and illustrations.

It is still unknown, though, exactly when papyrus was created in Egypt as a writing material. Much about the history of Egypt and the ancient world came down to us as recorded on papyrus paper. We do know it was in use by Dynasty I, circa 3100 BC, as attested by the hieroglyphic sign of a papyrus roll, which has also been considered the image of a book. Such rolls of papyrus have been found at early sites. In the Dynasty I Tomb of Hemaka a roll of papyrus was discovered, but, alas, it was blank. Small fragments are known from Dynasty V, 2477-2467 BC, at King Neferirkere’s temple at Abusir near Giza, which are now housed in Cairo, Berlin, and University College, London. So we know it was in production in the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. Figure 8. Papyrus of Kha. Copy by Prof. A. Basile Precious, papyrus paper has been found in many locations, but mostly in tombs.

Probably the earliest example was found during 1903-1920 excavations by the Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli at Deir el Medina at Thebes on a coffin in the tomb of the chief-workman Kha and his wife Merit of the New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, 1386-1349 BC The 52 ½ feet long papyrus represents the so-called “Book of the Dead,” the original in the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy. In 1989, Professor Antonio Basile, Director, Museo Didattico del Libro Antico in Tivoli, Italy, was especially commissioned to create an exact replica of the first meter of the original papyrus for the Egyptian Gallery of the McClung Museum, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A section of the papyrus depicts the deceased Kha and his wife before the great God of the Dead Osiris seated under his canopy in the Afterworld (Figure 8). Rolls of and documents on papyrus were kept in wooden chests, in jars, or sacred statuary. Chests are often represented standing on the ground in front of scribes.

Five, almost complete papyrus rolls from a Dynasty V tomb at Gebelein, were found in a simple, rectangular, wooden box as were the papyri in a tomb behind the great Ramesseum, the Dynasty XIX temple of Ramesses III at Thebes. Although some boxes were labeled, they probably come from a kind of repository of royal personages. There is no evidence regarding the organization of a library in ancient Egypt before the great Museum-Library at Alexandra of the Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 BC There were royal administrative archives, where official daybooks, business letters and accounts were stored. Some were called “Place of Documents of Pharaoh” and there were also private repositories. Much information about the Greek civilization has come down to us through papyri. Egyptian papyrus became the basic writing material for the Greeks. In the Ptolemaic Period, when Greek pharaohs sat on the throne of Egypt, high quality papyrus production and trade was under royal ownership, a monopoly in the control of Pharaoh. It was also a material imported throughout the Near East. Papyrus was mainly used by the literati, for legal papers, and affairs of state. As C. H.

Roberts noted:“Centuries before Alexander’s conquest had made the Greeks the masters of the country, Egypt had manufactured papyrus paper by a carefully guarded processes…. The Egyptians had made of it the finest writing material known…indeed, without such a relatively cheap and convenient material literature and the sciences could scarcely have developed as they did….” 7 Apparently Egypt was able to keep its process a deep secret and maintain its monopoly. Egypt went on to supply the whole Roman Empire. What a wonderful invention, so light, portable and easy to record information via a reed pen, compared to the “more cumbersome or more expensive writing material, such as stone and metal plates, wooden and clay tablets, or leather.” 8 But, alas, paper made of parchment arrived in the Second Century AD and later linen came along from China by way of Baghdad in the Eighth Century AD The fragile papyrus paper was no longer in demand. Luckily, though, many writings on papyrus by the ancient Egyptians did manage to survive, mainly in fragmented form. They are preserved in museums and institutions all over the world. The ancient Egyptians did not leave the method of making papyrus paper, but only wall paintings of its being collected.

Although we have no record of how they produced the paper, modern scientists have experimented with the plant. The following steps are probably quite close to the method used: Soak freshly cut stalks in water; Remove green rind; Split the soft pith in strips of finger width; Arrange strips side by side on a damp board; Arrange second layer of strips side by side atop the first strips in the opposite direction; Press the two layers together (pound with a mallet, or stone for several hours) and they become naturally stuck together by the sticky substance of the pith; Leave the resultant sheet to dry; Polish the paper with a piece of ivory, shell, or smooth stone to flatten and smooth roughness, The ends can be overlapped and hammered together to make longer sheets. Figure 9. Cast of the Narmer Palette. On loan to the McClung Museum from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Papyrus as a Symbol of Egypt The plant may have become the symbol of Lower Egypt as early as the fourth millennium BC. The plant is illustrated on one side of the famous Narmer palette of Dynasty I, circa 3100 BC, a bronze replica of which is on exhibit in the McClung Museum’s Egyptian Gallery.

Horus stands over his enemies, the marshland people of Lower Egypt symbolized by papyrus (Figure 9.). Another early example in relief are the papyrus stalks with round umbels on the well known fragment of an ivory club, now in the Cairo Museum. It depicts King Zer, or Scorpion King of Dynasty I, seated on his throne, with the plant in the background. Among the many fine examples is the relief at the Temple of Abu Simbel, built in Dynasty XIX by Rameses II, of a composite emblem of the twined plant symbolizing Lower Egypt in the “Union” of Upper and Lower Egypt. Papyrus Boats Uses for the plant were endless. They show the artistic, inventive and practical character of the ancient Egyptians in utilizing this most important natural resource that surrounded them. Even the Roman naturalist Pliny noted aspects of the plant’s diversity and wrote, “…indeed they plait papyrus to make boats, and they weave sails and matting from the bark and also cloth, blankets and ropes.” 9 For a culture that would not have existed were it not for the Nile River, boats were essential for survival. Egyptian men were the boat makers.

They cut down and tied the papyrus stalks and carried them to a place where they could best construct them. There the mature papyrus stems were tightly bound together into an oblong slim shape. A light portable boat was the result. (Figure 10.). These boats were used to collect papyrus as it could navigate marshes. Also papyrus fibres were woven together and occasionally made into sails, or twisted into ropes for the small boats. Small skiffs were made by fishermen as they served well for fishing and laying of traps or drag-nets. The seams of the larger wooden boats were caulked with papyrus and the rigging was made of papyrus fibres. Papyrus was also used for light cabins on boats. Figure 10. A Boat Decorated with Papyrus. From G. Ebers, Egypt: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque. London 1879.] Figure 11. Making a Papyrus Boat. From G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. London 1878.

James Bruce commented about additions made to a papyrus boat and its restriction to local use: “The Egyptian ships, at that time (Sesostris I, Middle Kingdom, 1971-1928 BC), were all made of reed papyrus, covered with skins or leather, a construction which no people could venture to present to the ocean.” 10 Ships of wood are known as early as the Old Kingdom. Some were as long as 100 feet, probably made of acacia, and some with papryus sails. Some had the stern and port carved in the shape of papyrus (Figure 11.). Papyrus in the Household Figure 12. Woven Box on Stand. From G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. London 1878. Peasants as well as the wealthy had many useful items made of papyrus in their dwellings. According to Pliny the stalks were used as wood for fires but also to make utensils and containers. There were boxes, chests, crates and baskets to store goods such as wigs, toiletries, food, writing equipment (Figure 12).

There were bottle stoppers, balls and needle cases. Among other things papyrus rope was used in webbing for beds, woven floor mats and matting for walls. Papyrus curtains were made as doors that could be rolled up and down. Trays, stools with reed webbing, tables laden with food, and sandals are some of the household objects that were made of papyrus. Also, it was used for sealing jars. Amphora and other pottery vessels containing food and various liquids had the mouths sealed by papyrus. Some seals were woven and sometimes the papyrus was just stuffed in the jar mouth as a safeguard. Strands of papyrus pith were used as ties around documents and letters. Medical Papyrus Then there were numerous medical uses as is documented in the Ebers Papyrus and in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a sample section of which is on exhibit in the McClung Museum’s Egyptian Gallery. Dried papyrus was used for expanding and drying fistulae and as an aid to open an abscess for the application of medicine. Burnt papyrus ash was a caustic remedy. Dioscorides (AD 78) in the last century AD wrote that the ash cures mouth ulcers from spreading.

The ash was also used for diseases of the eye and if added to wine it induced sleep. The plant itself with water was known to cure skin calluses. Papyrus and Food Papyrus as food was mentioned by Herodotus, who said the annual plant was collected and the lower part eaten. The starch filled rhizomes were consumed raw or roasted and tasted even better after being baked in a red hot oven. The Greek botanist Theophrastus (ca. 370-288 BC) claimed it was of greatest use as food. Egyptians chewed the papyrus raw, swallowed the juice and spit out the remains. The Roman historian Diodorus of Sicily wrote, circa 60-30 BC, that children were served stews along with raw, roasted, boiled, or baked, stalks of the plant. Pliny the Elder tells us that the root was a food for the peasant classes. He also noted that it was used as chewing gum both in the raw and boiled states. Figure 13. Bastet Holding a Papyrus Scepter. From G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the ancient Egypians. London 1878.

Papyrus as Amulets Amulets were worn suspended from a cord around the neck, as part of a broad collar, or sewn on mummy wrappings. One of the numerous faience amulets was the papyrus amulet, prized for its powers of regeneration, or rebirth as in renewed life. Another type of papyrus amulet was the hypocephalus, a circular piece of new papyrus inscribed with Chapter 162 from the “Book of the Dead.” Symbolic of the sun, the protective disk was placed beneath the head of the mummy to insure the deceased would have abundant warmth in the afterworld as on earth. Goddesses are depicted grasping a papyrus scepter, a long, thin shaft surmounted by a triangular umbel (Figure 13.). Papyrus for Floral Bouquets and Funeral Garlands Images painted on tomb walls frequently depict papyrus umbels used in feasts and funeral rites. Guests hold them in their hands at feasts, or praying persons in religious ceremonies. Servants carry papyrus stalks as common offerings to the gods. Papyrus was a precious gift on the altar and on the offering table in the temple.

We also see the umbel as an ornament on walls, kisoks, tables, etc. In many tomb paintings there are depictions of “papyrus swathes” bundles of flowers and plant foliage tied around a central bunch of papyrus stalks. The feathery umbels on long stalks were ideal for these composite floral decorations in temples and tombs. It might be noted the stalks were used as a twine for attaching other flowers, the fibres used for stringing the flowers. The pith was shaped into artificial flowers. Figure 14. Fowling Scene from the Tomb of Nakht. Copy by Richard Greene of Knoxville. Papyrus in Paintings and Reliefs Papyrus is represented in many paintings and temple reliefs as well as an important part of daily life. Among the numerous examples is the papyrus prominently featured in the wall painting of a marsh scene of fowling in the Dynasty XVIII Tomb of Nahkt at Thebes, which was recreated for the Egyptian Gallery of the McClung Museum. (Figure 14).

Also is the fragment in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of a garden scene from from the tomb of Ipuy at Thebes, and in the Cairo Museum the painted papyrus clusters decorating the palace floor at Amarna. Sandstone reliefs at the mortuary temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel depict prisoners strung together with papyrus and on painted friezes on the dais of the thrones of pharaohs. Papyrus and Architecture The papyrus symbol is often an essential feature in the small (Figure 15.) as well as the large.Towering papyrus form columns and pilasters in palaces and temples abound. Among many examples, the earliest is dated to the Dynasty III of the Old Kingdom, in the handsome papyrus-form pilasters on the building façade of the pyramid complex of King Djoser at Saqqara. The stalk on the pilaster is triangular in outline as is found on the plant. The style was replaced by the clustered type so common to later Egyptian temples. The Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of Amun at Karnak is an exceptional example (Figure 16.),the famous, scale model of which can be seen in the McClung Museum’s Egyptian Gallery. Figure 15.

Ointment box decorated wih papyrus. From G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the ancient Egyptians. London 1878. Figure 16. Model of the Hypostyle Hall. On loan to the McClung Museum from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here the papyrus is full blown and in the round. The column tapers and is encircled by pointed leaves at its base and the capital in the form of an umbel. Also at Karnak is a towering pillar decorated in high relief with the symbolic papyrus stalks, erected by King Thutmosis III in Dynasty XVIII. Private dwellings were decorated with papyrus columns and pilasters as well. Papyrus Today Today, what might be the ancient species is now found growing naturally in the Wadi Natron, an oasis area just west of the Delta in Egypt as was mentioned earlier. This survivor may be the ancient species, but there are so many variants that problems have arisen in pinpointing the exact ancient plant species.

Interestingly, a continuous growth of what some have judged to be the ancient plant is still profuse along the White Nile in the southern Sudan, some 1,500 miles south of the Egyptian border, alluded to by James Bruce. Various species of papyrus are found in other parts of the world, including the United States, and the continent of Africa such as in large areas of west, east and central Africa and on the island of Madegasca. The papyrus groves of Sicily are thought derived from papyrus introduced from Egypt by the Arabs in the 10th century AD * This paper was given Sunday, June 30, 2002, in the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in conjunction with Pharaoh’s Harvest [INSERT LINK TO Exhibition], a travelling exhibition about ancient and modern Egyptian plants, and also to provide a better understanding of the nature of the papyrus as exhibited in the McClung Museum’s Egyptian Gallery. Notes Erman, Adolf, Life in Ancient Egypt. London: Macmillan and Co., 1894, p. 447. Herodotus, II, 92. Tackholm and Drar, p. 134.

Tackholm and Drar, p. 140. Cerny, p. 5. When Did Abortion Begin? The Ancient History of Abortion By Tom Head Question: When Did Abortion Begin? Answer: Abortion is often presented as if it were new, cutting-edge, scientific--a product of the modern era--when it is, in fact, as old as recorded history. The earliest known description of abortion comes from the Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1550 BCE), an ancient Egyptian medical text drawn, ostensibly, from records dating as far back as the third millennium BCE. The Ebers Papyrus suggests that an abortion can be induced with the use of a plant-fiber tampon coated with a compound that included honey and crushed dates. Later herbal abortifacients included the long-extinct silphium , the most prized medicinal plant of the ancient world, and pennyroyal , which is still sometimes used to induce abortions (but not safely, as it is highly toxic).

In Aristophanes' Lysistrata , Calonice refers to a young woman as "well-cropped, and trimmed, and spruced with pennyroyal." Abortion is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible , but we know that the ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Romans, among others, would have practiced it during their respective eras. The absence of any discussion of abortion in the Bible is conspicuous, and later authorities attempted to close the gap. The Babylonian Talmud (Niddah 23a) suggests a Jewish response, by a Rabbi Meir, that would have been consistent with contemporaneous secular sources permitting abortion during early pregnancy: "[A woman] can only abort something in the shape of a stone, and that can only be described as a lump." Chapter two of the Didache , an early Christian text, prohibits all abortion, but does so only within the context of a longer passage that also condemns theft, covetousness, perjury, hypocrisy, and pride.

Abortion is never mentioned in the Qur'an , and later Muslim scholars hold a range of views regarding the morality of the practice - some holding that it is always unacceptable, others holding that it is acceptable up to the 16th week of pregnancy. The earliest legal ban on abortion dates from the 11th-century BCE Code of Assura, and imposes the death penalty on married women who procure abortions without the permission of their husbands. We know that some regions of ancient Greece also had some sort of ban on abortion, because there are fragments of speeches from the ancient Greek lawyer-orator Lysias (445-380 BCE) in which he defends a woman accused of having an abortion - but, much like the Code of Assura, it may have only applied in cases where the husband had not granted permission for the pregnancy to be terminated.

The Hippocratic Oath forbade physicians from inducing elective abortions (requiring that physicians vow "not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion"), but Aristotle held that abortion was ethical if performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, writing in the Historia Animalium that there is a distinctive change that takes place early in the second trimester: About this period (the ninetieth day) the embryo begins to resolve into distinct parts, it having hitherto consisted of a fleshlike substance without distinction of parts. What is called effluxion is a destruction of the embryo within the first week, while abortion occurs up to the fortieth day; and the greater number of such embryos as perish do so within the space of these forty days. As far as we know, surgical abortion was not common until the end of the 19th century--and would have been reckless prior to the invention of the Hegar dilator in 1879, which made dilation-and-curettage (D&C) possible. But pharmaceutically-induced abortions, different in function and similar in effect, were extremely common in the ancient world.

Question: In what country did papyrus originate?
Answer: Egypt