Papyrus as Writing Material

Papyrus was a plant that grew especially well in the Nile River delta of Egypt and could reach heights of 15 feet. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) provides a description of the process of turning papyrus plants into durable writing material. The thick center stalk was cut into thin strips, which were used to form two layers, running perpendicular to each other and adhered together. This two-ply surface was compressed, dried, and smoothed. Finally, the sheets were trimmed to the desired dimensions. Papyrus was an affordable and convenient writing material, and its use dates to as early as 2400 bc.

Literature written on papyrus was made in the form of a scroll prior to the invention and popularity of the book (codex). Papyrus rolls contained writing on the inside of the scroll for the protection of the ink, which was written on the side with horizontal fibers. The amount of text that could be included on a roll was limited due to the form’s cumbersome nature. Rolls did not normally exceed 35 feet in length so that desired passages could be located quickly and easily.

The advantage of the codex (plural “codices”) format was its portability and increased writing capacity. Whereas scrolls normally had writing only on one side, papyrus codices had writing on both sides of each sheet, doubling the size of the writing surface. As a result, the codex could include collections of books in a single volume. The Gospel of Luke, the longest book in the New Testament, would require its own scroll approximately 32 feet long. A single codex, on the other hand, could contain all four Gospels in one volume—or Paul’s writings, or even the entire New Testament. Furthermore, since the pages of codices could be turned, desired passages could be accessed more easily. Early Christian preference for codices over scrolls contrasts with the opposite preference of the broader culture in the early centuries ad. Whether Christians invented the codex format or merely popularized it is unclear.