Scrolls
July 6, 2018
Before bookbinding there were scrolls, the use of which dates back to ancient Egypt. Scrolls were predated by clay tablets, and even today scrolls are still in use in Jewish ceremonies.
Ancient scrolls were papyrus, made from reeds that grew in marshy areas around the Nile river. Parchment, which came later, was an early form of paper made from many different plant materials, even grain and seaweed.
The Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 have given credibility to Biblical writings and have not all been completely analyzed 70 years later.
When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, Herculaneum, an ancient Roman resort on the Bay of Naples, was buried by super-hot ash that inundated the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. Its library, surrounded by beautiful mosaics, frescoes and sculptures, contained approximately 2,000 papyrus scrolls. The scrolls, which are seared beyond comprehension, may contain the works of the classical poets and their students, as well as the works of the apostle Paul, who is said to have visited Naples in the years prior to the eruption. Attempts to unroll the scrolls have been made over the years only to expose a few words and letters on the fragments of papyrus. Another problem, even using x-ray procedures, is that ink made prior to the third century A.D. contained no metal, consisting of charcoal mixed with water -- difficult to distinguish from the seared papyrus it’s written on.
Will technology of the future expose lessons from the past? Only time will tell.
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