Papyrus Article

From an ancient scribe’s shopping list to souvenir bookmarks and reprints of tomb scenes, papyrus has had a long run. The Ancient Egyptians were doodling on this stuff long before most of the world knew what writing was – much less had anything to write on.

Even though the ancient Egyptians had the means to document the A-to-Z of papyrus making for future generations, they neglected to write the process down. Clearly they weren’t planning on obsolescence – papyrus was used for writing and painting for 4,000 years, beginning around 3000 BC.

The Egyptians exported papyrus, but closely guarded the secrets of its manufacture. That monopoly turned out to be the undoing of the industry. Papyrus has a long shelf life in dry Egyptian weather, but doesn’t fare so well in humid European climes. As people began searching for cheaper, more durable alternatives, pulp-based paper and vellum made of animal hide gained in popularity. With no local producers to defend it, papyrus fell out of use in the eleventh century AD.

The world forgot about papyrus until 1956, when Dr. Hassan Ragab, then Egypt’s ambassador to China, visited the birthplace of Ziaolin, the man who, in the second century AD, invented paper as we know it today. Watching the villagers making paper, the Egyptian ambassador thought about how his ancestors created papyrus – from which paper, incidentally, takes its name.

After ending his diplomatic travels, Ragab, an engineer by training, embarked on a journey of research, only to discover that nobody knew for sure how papyrus was made. So he began to experiment.

The first problem: finding an actual papyrus plant. As pulp-based papermaking took hold, Cyperus papyrus stopped being cultivated and eventually died out in Egypt. Ragab had to reintroduce the plant using roots from Sudan and Ethiopia, eventually establishing several large plantations.

Next, he had to figure out how the papyrus sheets were made. Ragab studied existing papyrus scrolls to find out how strips meshed together horizontally and vertically. He took a couple of plants, cut them up and soaked them in his bathtub, trying to figure out how to put the strips together. After much trial and error, he developed a method to make papyrus sheets in 1966.

Fufa Cherine, Ragab’s cousin and a tour guide, suggested that tourists would want to see how papyrus is made. Thus was born the idea of the Pharaonic Village, which now has 11 museums and papyrus making centers – on a 34-acre island off the banks of the Nile in Giza, the site of Ragab’s first papyrus plantation.

Ragab, who is credited with more than 40 inventions, patented his technique for papyrus making, but he was less successful than the ancients in guarding the secret. After Ragab taught his workers how to make the product, many left to set up their own papyrus production liens – eventually leading to an explosion of papyrus making under different manufacturers. Today there are over 200 different makers in the country.

Ragab died in 2004, but his son Abdel-Salam Ragab continues papyrus-making legacy. “Today, the industry has been killed,” Abdel-Salam asserts. “Papyrus is being sold for one or two pounds – it’s not genuine.”

The triangular papyrus stalks are peeled and cut into long thin strips

Indeed, it’s hard to visit any tourist site without tripping over someone with a piece of ‘papyrus’ to sell. Its popularity among tourists and locals alike has spawned an entire industry of fake products, scrolls that look and feel like papyrus to the untrained eye but are actually made of banana leaves.

So how can you tell the difference? Abdel-Salam has a list of things to look for. “Firstly, it has to be made of papyrus, not banana leaves or peels, or any other vegetable or fruit product. Secondly, real papyrus is not chemically treated. You can tell chemically treated papyri by its homogenous surface. Real papyri are not homogenous. Normally, the stem is different from the top of the plant, and when you cut it, it is going to be a little dark here, a little light there. The chemically treated type disintegrates after some time because the chemicals go into the cellulose of the fiber, making it disintegrate. So you have a picture that looks beautiful, but after three to four years, it is destroyed. It breaks, as it is not as durable.

The papyrus strips soaked in water and laid out in horizontal and vertical layers, which give the paper its distinctive look and feel.

“Thirdly, you have to try to scroll and roll the papyrus, and if it has difficulty rolling, that’s the real papyrus. If it is malleable, it has been chemically treated. Fourthly, put it up to the sun and look at how the meshwork runs, whether it has shades of dark or shades of light. Lastly, see how thick it is – real papyrus is thick. Mercantile papyrus is very thin, you may like it because it is thin and you can fold it but it’s not genuine.”

The sheet is pounded flat on both sides, which helps remove the excess water.

Abdel-Salam’s passion for papyrus runs as deep as his father’s did. “Except for parchment, it was the only paper of the time. It shows the ingenuity of the Egyptians and depicts scenes from ancient Egypt,” he says, “It was not only used for paper, but to make ropes, boats, sandals, mattresses and all kinds of things.”

“The lower, softer part of the stem was also a common article of food, either raw or cooked.” Abdel-Salam’s father told a Saudi Aramco reporter in a 1973 interview, “I’ve tried it myself, and it’s not bad.”

The younger Ragab does not always appreciate modern marketing of the ancient paper. “They have taken it and done many different things to it, like drawing the Mona Lisa on it,” he says. “It has lost its historical significance.”

The paper is then placed under a flat, heavy weight to finish drying. Once dry, the sheet is burnished slightly to create a smooth surface ready for writing.

One way to tell if a design on papyrus is authentically Pharaonic is to look at the colors used in the drawings. “[Modern designs] use colors like gold and black, which tourists like, even though the ancient Egyptians rarely used gold – the colors they did use are green, blue and red. But [modern papyrus makers] do this to suit the tourist. If you want to suit the tourist, you do things one way. If you want to make the authentic thing, you do it another way.”

Regardless of whether you choose modern or Pharaonic images, you should display it with pride. Abdel-Salam suggests showing the scroll between two panels of glass. “It is the best way to show how the paper is from both sides. This way you can hold it up against the sun and see the transverse and vertical strips that make up this paper.”

So buy your papyrus wisely. The extra effort will go a long way.

THE REED OF THE PHARAOHS

Papyrus is made from the stems of the reed-like plant, Cyperus papyrus, which once grew abundantly in the Nile Delta and along the banks of the river Nile. The Pharaohs discovered paprus’ use as writing material around 2750 BC. Indeed, papyrus is a Greed word derived from the Ancient Egyptian term pa-per-aa, meaning ‘material of Pharaohs.’

Pharaonic Egypt was among the first civilizations to use a written language. Before the development of papyrus, hieroglyphics were used to record experiences. Written language enabled the Pharaohs to communicate over long distances and extend their power to the furthest borders of their kingdom. Some of the best-preserved ancient papyrus documents are economic and trade records.

Around the same time, the Chinese had developed their own written language using the bark of certain trees and, later, rice paper. Papyrus, however, was cheaper than other materials, and was easy to handle and transport. The new writing material could be produced in large quantities. Scrolls of papyrus served as books, newspapers, and letters. Papyrus became a major Egyptian export, with the Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians using it as their main writing material.

Unfortunately the papyrus reeds no longer grow in the wild in Egypt. They can, however, be found in botanic gardens and at the papyrus institutes. Today the reed only grows naturally south of the Sahara, in the wetlands of central and southern Africa. Papyrus grows in particular abundance in the Okevango Delta in Botswana and along the shores of Lake Victoria.

Article is from the HORUS: The Inflight Magzine of EgyptAir Febrary/March 2008 issue, in coordination with EgyptAir Holding Company--Publicity and Information Department

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