(() Papyrus.— If skins probably played the most imjiortant part in the early history of the Hebrew Scriptures, the iiapyrus plant certainly did so in the case of the Greek. The papyrus plant {ci/perus pap;/rus), which formerly grew in great profusion in the Nile (though now confined to the higher part of its course), was used from a very early date in Egypt as a material for writing. The earliest extant jjapyrus MS dates from the 5th dynasty (see § i.),and from about the 12th dynasty onwards many such volumes are known, with writings in all tiie varieties of Egyptian script — hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic. From Egj'pt the use of papyrus spre.ad into the neighbouring countries, and it was the iiniver.sal material for book-production in Greece and Italy during the most ilourishing periods of their literature. The LXX veisicm of the or was produced in Egypt under the Ptolemies, and there can be no doubt that it was written upon papyrus, like the hundre<ls of Greek documents of that period which recent dis/;overies in that country have brought to light. So, too, with the books of the NT. These were written in Greek, in various parts of the Greek-speaking world — in Asia Minor, in Greece, in Rome, etc. ; and there is no reason to doubt that they were written on papyrus in the ordinary way. The only books wliicii may have been originally written in Palestine are St. Matthew and St. James ; but these, it must be remembered, would not at first bo written as sacred books, «o that the rules applying to the OT would not apply to them. They, too, must almost certainly have been written on ]ia]iyrus; and on this material the Greek OT and the NT must have circulated habitually, if not exclusively, until the 4th cent, of our era. — The method of manufacture of papy- rus is described by Pliny [JJA xiii. 11-13). The
• The sugpestions that the fuf*3/iiit»i were blank sheetA of vclluni, or note-books (which were sometimes made of velluni at that date), or accuunt-1x>oks, seem inconsistent with the im- ixirtance evidently attAuhed to them.
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WRITING
WRITIXG
pith* of the stem of tlie plant was cut into thin striiis, which were Uiid siiie by side to form a sheet. Anotlier hiyer of strips was then luiil upon the first, at right angles to it, so that the wliole sheet was composed of two layers, in one of whicli the fibres ran horizontally, in the other perpendicularly. The two layers were attached to one another by moisture and pressure, with or without the addition of glue.t The sheets (KoWii/xaro, schedce) so formed were dried and polished, and were tlien ready for use. They could be used singly, as for letters, accounts, and the like ; or a numuer of them could be joined together, so as to form a roll. According to rliny, the manufacturers prepared rolls (scapi) consisting of not more than 20 sckedoe ; but a scnbe who required more to contain the work lie was copying could attach a second roll to the first, and cut ofl' so much of it as might not be needed. The length of papyrus rolls, as actually used, varies greatly. In ancient Egypt, when books were largely used for ceremonial and ritual purposes, they were often of excessive length ; the longest at present known measures 144 ft. IBut for prac- tical use much more moderate dimensions were necessary, and no Greek literary papyrus is known which exceeds 30 ft. The height varies from 15J to about 5 in. ; about 9 or 10 in. is a common height for a literary papyrus. The writing is nor- mally on that side of the papyrus on which the fibres lie horizontally, i.e. parallel to the lengtli of the roll {recto) ; the verso is only used either when the scribe's matter exceeds the papyrus at his dis- posal, so that after filling the recto he is forced to continue on the verso, or (a commoner case) when the recto has already been used to receive some other writing. A roll of tlie first description (whether its material be leather or papyrus) is that men- tioned in Ezk 2'" (cf. Rev 5'), which was ' written within and without ; and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.' The multi- tude of calamities is indicated by the writing ex- tending over both sides of the roll. An example of a roll so written occurs in a magical papyrus in the British Museum (Pap. cxxi.). Opisthograph rolls of the second description imply that the writer employed papyrus alre.-idy once used, either because he was too poor to get any other, or too remote from a town where it might be obtained, or that the matter he wished to write was too unim- portant to justify the use of fresh papyrus. Thus rough accounts are frequently written on the back of used papyrus ; or schoolboys' copies, as in the case of the ])apyrus which bears on its verso the Funeral Oration of ilyporides, roughly written in a school- boy's hand ; or we may have a literary work, WTitten for the private use of an individual, not for sale or for a public library, as in the case of the 'ASr}i'aluiv IIoXiTfia of Aristotle, which is written on the back of farm accounts. Such literary MSS might, no doubt, occasionally come into the market as cheap copies, but they would form no part of the regular