What Is the Lamina Papyracea?

Papyrus, also known as papyrus or sedge, was a writing carrier widely used by the ancient Egyptians. It was made from the stems of papyrus that were abundant in the Nile Delta at that time. Around 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to use papyrus and exported this special product to areas of ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as ancient Greece, and even distant European inland and western Asia. The study of ancient manuscripts written on papyrus, or papyrus, was a basic tool for ancient Greek and Roman historians.

Papyrus

The raw material for papyrus is the stem of papyrus. First remove the hard green outer skin of the sedge stem, cut the light-colored inner stem into strips of about 40 cm, and cut into thin slices. The cut flakes should be soaked in water for at least 6 days to remove the sugar content. After that, the strips are discharged side by side and then covered with another layer, and the two sheets should be perpendicular to each other. Flatten these sheets in the middle of two layers of linen and beat them with a mallet while they are wet. Press the two layers into a piece and squeeze out the moisture. Then press the stone and other heavy objects (commonly pressed by a machine today). Just get the finished papyrus. Since only one side of the paper is used, a sizing treatment is required on the writing side so that the ink does not bleed when writing.

The ancient Egyptians first used paper as a scroll, and later cut it out for convenience as a manuscript, so books appeared. Papyrus is occasionally used for painting today, but water-based paint can distort the paper. ^[2]

Papyrus can be well preserved in Egypt's dry climate. However, it is easily destroyed by mold in humid environments. Therefore, when the papyrus that was introduced and used in large quantities in Greece and Italy was eventually damaged, the remaining cursive scrolls can also be found in Egypt, such as Elephantine papyri, the famous discovery in Oxyrhynchus, and Nago Nag Hammadi Codex.

Papyrus paper painting

Egyptian papyrus painting

Papyrus