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Manufacture and use

Different ways of cutting papyrus stem and making of papyrus sheet

Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London

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Papyrus plants at Syracuse, Sicily

Papyrus is made from the stem of the plant. The outer rind is first stripped off, and thesticky fibrous inner pith is cut lengthwise into thin strips of about ! cm "#$ in% long. The

strips are then placed side by side on a hard surface with their edges slightly o&erlapping,

and then another layer of strips is laid on top at a right angle. The strips may ha&e beensoaked in water long enough for decomposition to begin, perhaps increasing adhesion, but

this is not certain. 't is also possible that the two layers were glued together.($) *hile still

moist, the two layers are hammered together, mashing the layers into a single sheet. The

sheet is then dried under pressure. +fter drying, the sheet of papyrus is polished with somerounded obect, possibly a stone or seashell or round hard wood. (-)

To form the long strip that a scroll reuired, a number of such sheets were united, placed so

that all the hori/ontal fibres parallel with the roll0s length were on one side and all the&ertical fibres on the other. 1ormally, te2ts were first written on the recto, the lines

following the fibres, parallel to the long edges of the scroll. Secondarily, papyrus was often

reused, writing across the fibres on the verso.(3) Pliny the 4lder  describes the methods of

 preparing papyrus in his Naturalis Historia.

'n a dry climate like that of 4gypt, papyrus is stable, formed as it is of highly rot5resistant

cellulose6 but storage in humid conditions can result in molds attacking and destroying the

material. 'n 4uropean conditions, papyrus seems only to ha&e lasted a matter of decades6 a

3!!7year5old papyrus was considered e2traordinary. 'mported papyrus that was oncecommonplace in Greece and 'taly has since deteriorated beyond repair, but papyrus is still

 being found in 4gypt6 e2traordinary e2amples include the 4lephantine papyri and the

famous finds at 82yrhynchus and 1ag 9ammadi. The :illa of the Papyri at 9erculaneum,containing the library of Lucius ;alpurnius Piso ;aesoninus, <ulius ;aesar 0s father5in5law,

was preser&ed by the eruption of =ount :esu&ius, but has only been partially e2ca&ated.

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There ha&e been sporadic attempts to re&i&e the manufacture of papyrus during the past 3>!

years. The Scottish e2plorer  <ames ?ruce e2perimented in the late #@th century with papyrus plants from the Sudan, for papyrus had become e2tinct in 4gypt. +lso in the #@th

century, a Sicilian named Sa&erio Landolina manufactured papyrus at Syracuse, where

 papyrus plants had continued to grow in the wild. The modern techniue of papyrus

 production used in 4gypt for the tourist trade was de&eloped in #A$3 by the 4gyptianengineer 9assan Bagab using plants that had been reintroduced into 4gypt in #@-3 from

Crance. ?oth Sicily and 4gypt ha&e centres of limited papyrus production.

Papyrus is still used by communities li&ing in the &icinity of swamps, to the e2tent that

rural householders deri&e up to -> of their income from swamp goods "=aclean et al.3!!Eb6 c%. Particularly in 4ast and ;entral +frica, people har&est papyrus, which is used to

manufacture items that are sold or used locally. 42amples include baskets, hats, fish traps,

trays or winnowing mats and floor mats. Papyrus is also used to make roofs, ceilings, ropeand fences. +lthough alternati&es such as eucalyptus are increasingly a&ailable, papyrus is

still used as fuel."=aclean 3!!Ec%.

+fter har&esting the Cyperus papyrus plant, the outer fibers are peeled away and the core

of the stalk and sliced into &ery thin strips that are as broad as possible. The best of thesestrips, from the perspecti&e of uality, comes from the center. Progressi&ely, the uality of

the papyrus strips decline as the strips are taken further from the center of the yellowish5

white pith.

These papyrus strips are ne2t soaked in water for around three days, remo&ing the sugarcontent and making the fibres become fle2ible and transparent.

*hen the papyrus is remo&ed from the water it is &ery soft and uite spongy. 't is rolled flat

and left to dry a little before the strips are cut to the desired length.1e2t,the papyrus strips are pounded and the e2cess water drained away, after

which they are placed side by side, o&erlapping slightly. + second set of

 papyrus strips are placed at right angles to the first, again o&erlapping

slightly.

 1e2t, this raw papyrus sheet is pounded once again, and left under a hea&y weight

"usually a stone slab% to dry for appro2imately si2 days. The remaining sugar within the

 papyrus seals the strips together. Cinally, after drying, the surface of the papyrus sheet is

 polished to a smooth finish by rubbing it with, for e2ample, a shell or a piece of smoothi&ory.

The finished papyrus paper is then ready for use.

Cor practical purposes, the papyrus was limited to a standard si/e running - cm in length

at the most "3A5EE cm on the a&erage%, and 33 cm in width, though by no means was thisalways so, particularly o&er Egypt's long history. Cor longer documents, these pages were

 oined to create a papyrus roll "scroll%. 'n fact, papyrus sheets were usually not sold

indi&idually, but in rolls "of about 3! sheets%, with the fibers running in the same direction,e2cept for the end sheets, which were re&ersed in order to add stringth. 9owe&er, in later

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 periods, we also find papyrus books, called codex, which finally triumphed o&er the

 papyrus roll.