What kind of writing materials is the Bible’s handwriting written on?
When one reads about the history of the Bible, one often runs into terms like papyrus, parchment, vellum and sometimes the strange word palimpsest. What kind of materials are these, and how were they made? That is what we shall answer in this short three-part article series. We will begin with papyrus.
What is the papyrus plant?
Papyrus is what we can call a predecessor to the kind of paper we use today. The name came from the plant Cyperus papyrus, which was grown in both Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. The stem of the plant is triangular with a width of about 6 cm, and the pith was used to make the papyrus sheets.
After removing the outer skin of the stem, the stem pith was stained into thin strips of approx. 40 cm, much like peeling a rhubarb. The strips were laid horizontally side by side on a hard surface with a small overlap. Thereafter, another layer was laid on top, but vertically. There was no need for “glue” because the pith in itself is quite sticky and fibrous. This was laid to dry in the sun under pressure or with some light beating. To achieve a nice and smooth surface that would be suitable for writing, the sheets were polished with a circular object and cut into rectangular or square sheets measuring between 15 – 30 cm.
Papurys were usually sold in scrolls with a length of 4 to 6 meters. To make a papyrus scroll, one glued several sheets together one after another. The side where the papyrus fibres are laid horizontally was seen as the best side to write on and is today called the recto (the right side). The other side is called the verso (the back side). It was an exception to write on the verso. The word ‘bible’ actually has to do with papyrus. It comes from the town of Byblos[i], which was located by the Mediterranean coast and was a big export harbour of papyrus. In time, the town became the origin of the Greek word biblia, which means “scripts, scrolls and small books” and thus we get the word bible which is a collection of small books.
In the Bible, it is mentioned that the apostle John used papyrus when he wrote 2. Letter of John, verse 12: “I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink”.
In the Nordic Bible Museum’s gift shop, you can buy papyrus sheets to write on.
The next part of this article series will look at the materials parchment and vellum.
Bibliography
Herodots Historie (1998) Norsk oversettelse ved Mørland, Henning. Aschehoug & Co Forlag. Norge
https://www.britannica.com/topic/papyrus-writing-material (lest 20.10.18)
https://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/tjenester/papyrusutstilling/hva-er-papyrer (lest 20.10.18)
https://snl.no/papyrus (lest 20.10.18)
Figure sources
Figure 1. http://www.azgardens.com/product/papyrus-cyperus-papyrus-bog-plant
Figure 2. https://centerforbookarts.org/wednesdays-exhibitions-and-collections-making-your-own-paper
Footnotes
[i] Byblos is presumed to be identical to today’s Jebeil, which is located in what is currently Lebanon, approximately 30 km north-northeast of Beirut.
