T h ese esti m ates are of course merely approx im ate, and are meant to give but a general impression. Moreover, they are made on the assumption that only the recto of the roll was used. Occasionally, however, from motives of thrift, lack of space, or the like, the verso also — that on which the fibres ran vertically — was written upon ; and that this practice was known among the Christians of the Apostolic Age appears from Rev 5' : Kal elooK itrl TTiv Se^idv toO Kadfjfx^vov iirl rod Bpbvov ^i^Xiov yeypaiJ.iJ.hov Icruiffev Kal (>Tn(y0(v [the readings l<Tw8ev Kal l^uffef and iairpoaBev Kal &vt(T8ev may be dis- regarded] Kareacppayiapihov atppaytaiv iirrd. The ' book ' here spoken of is not a codex, but a papy- rus roll, which would lie quite securely in the palm of the outstretched hand — a position depicted also in ancient art. The term d-riaddypaipov was a familiar one (cf. Lucian, Vitarum Audio, ^ ; Pliny, Ep. iii. 5 ; Juv. Sat. i. 6, 'a tergo ' ; Martial, viii. 62, ' in aversa charta ' ; LXX Ezk 2'°, l/nrpocr- 6ei> Kal TO, dirlau), and the phrase lawBev Kal 6irur8ei' in Rev 5^ must have been understood by readers of the Apostolic Age as indicating a papyrus roll written upon both sides [but cf. Literature (B) 3 (a)]. In this passage, as in Ezk 2'°, the circum- stance that the book was written on both sides is to be taken as signifying the fullness of the con- tents.
Other matters of detail, even if not referred to in the apostolic writings, may safely be taken from the general practice of the age. The upper and lower edges of the roll were often trimmed and smoothed, just as modern books are edged, and were probably also coloured ; as pieces of the sheet would crumble away through frequent use, repairs were sometimes necessary ; in order to protect the material against the ravages of worms, insects, etc., the back of the sheet was often washed with cedar- oil ; the first sheet, as most liable to injury, was siJecially strengthened ; the title of the work was in- scribed onasmalllabel (crirT-i'/Sosoro'iXXi'/So!) attached to the upper end of the standing roll. Now and then we meet with 6 6/j.(fia\6i, umbilicus, the cylindrical stick (for K(pa^, the knob, the evidence is doubtful), though not always within the roll ; it would appear, however, that the stick was not, as hitherto believed, glued to the last sheet, which was in the middle of the closed roll, but was held in the hand so as to give a better support to the roll, and served as a pivot upon which the portion already read could be rolled by the left hand.
Sometimes the roll seems to have been kept in a
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leather cover or slie.ith, like the case now used for university diplomas, etc. ; it ini^'lit also have a cord or a ribljon tied round it, as with letters, and rolls thus kept closed by threads or riblions eould then be sealed upon these. The ' book ' of Kev 5' is to be thought of as scaled with seven seals in tliis way ; the phrase avoi^ai rb jSi/iX/oi' (v.-') — if the author had a distinct picture in his mind— must signify, not the unfolding of the roll, but simply the loosing of the seals. It is certainly possiole that in the author's thought the opening of each separate seal stood for the opening of a distinct portion of the whole work, but the opened book (as lound also in Itev 10", t^iji\apl5ioi> -qvei^yixivov) is simply the unsealed, not the unrolled, volume.
A number of rolls could be fastened tiogether with tape in a parcel, or kept in a case (KijSwTos, nijiiiriov, kIstii ; also reuxoi), which was cubical or cylindrical in shape, and made of wood or leather. The present writer does not think it probable that the ^eXfe?)? ((j>ai\6vr)!) of 2 Ti 4'^ denotes such a case or cover, though this interpretation is a very ancient one, being found, indeed, in the Hyv. Peshitta ; (pe\6vi)s was doubtless derived from tpepdXijs (Lat. pmnula) by transposition of consonants; but the latter term is never met with in the sense of a case for rolls, and the former always bears quite a dill'er- ent meaning. The word 2>cemila or <(>(vb\ri's, though not the specific term, might of course quite well be applied to the cover of a single roll, but what use could St. Paul have had for a single article of the kind ? Thus in all likelihood the (peXdfijs of the passage referred to denotes a traveller's cloak, W'hich he had left behind hira and now required in view of the approaching winter (cf. 4-').
The papyrus ' book-roll ' here de.scribed comes before us in Greek under the general name /3i/3\os, which in the Christian writings of the Apostolic Age is found in the following forms: ( 1 ) V; /3i/3\os (Mt 1', Mk 12=«, Lk 3* SO^, Ac 1=» V^ 19'» ; 1 Clem, xliii. 1 ; also In the phrase ^i;3Xos fw^s, for which see art. Book of Life) ; (2) t6 ^t^\Lof (Lk 4"- -», Jn 2030 21=5, Gal 3i», 2 Ti 4'^ He 9'», Rev 1" 5'^- ; Ep. Barn. xii. 9, Hernias, Vis. I. ii. 2, II. iv. 2, 2 Clem. xiv. 2 ; forjSi/SXto^-fw^sseeart. BoOK OF Liff.) ; the fact that the ' bill of divorcement ' is called ^i^Xiov aTTodTauiov in Mt 19', Mk 10^ leads us to think lirst of all of the papyrus material of the document ; (3) as a double diminutive tA pi^XapiSwi' (Rev 102-8ff. . (,f_ also Hernias, Vis. II. i. 3, iv. 3; v.l. ^i^XiSdpior, in both Revelation and Herni.), though sub-sequently rd jSi^Xloiov (already found in Ign. ad Eph. XX. 1, Herni. Vis. II. i. 3 f., iv. 1). It is diffi- cult to say how far, in each particular case, there was a consciousness of the fact that the word was derived from /3ii/3\os, the Egyptian papyrus plant. It would be quite wrong to render the terra always by ' book-roll,' since the main reference is very often to the contents of the book.