![]() ![]() Wax, leaves and wood: from the 5th century BC The records indicate that they were in use at least 1000 years earlier, in the Shang dynasty. The modern Chinese character for a book evolves from a pictogram of bamboo strips threaded together.īamboo books survive from as early as about 400 BC. To create a longer document, two lines of thread link each bamboo strip to its neighbour. Chinese characters at this early period are written in vertical columns, so a thin strip of bamboo is ideal for a single column. (See Alexandria - a papyrus library)Īn indigenous plant in China, the bamboo, proves as convenient a writing material as papyrus in Egypt. The material has been one of the most important elements in the history of writing. ![]() Almost every 'book' in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome (spanning a period of more than 3500 years) is a papyrus scroll of this type. Up to twenty of the rectangles can be pasted together at their short ends, to be rolled up and sold in the form of a scroll. They are then hammered flat and dried in the sun, after which the upper side (with the broader strips) is polished smooth with a piece of ivory or a shell. The broader ones are laid side by side to form a rectangle, and others are then laid across at right angles.īy a process of wetting and pressure, sometimes with added adhesive, the two layers bind. To make a scroll, strips are cut down the length of the plant. The papyrus is a form of rush which grows by the Nile. It will remain in regular use longer than any other material in the history of written documents. It is known by the name of the aquatic plant which provides the structure - papyrus. Around 3000 BC, in Egypt, people begin making a flexible smooth surface, which will accept and retain ink without blur or smudge. The discovery of an easily portable substance to write on is almost as old as writing itself. But they are not very convenient for sending messages. Characters are formed from the wedge-shaped marks which a corner of the reed makes when pressed into the damp clay - a style of writing known as cuneiform.Ĭlay tablets, dried hard in the sun, make an almost indestructible temple archive. These two ingredients define the first script. Their implement is a piece of reed cut to form a rectangular end. It becomes the writing material of the temple scribes. In the river plains of Mesopotamia, where writing first develops, clay is an easily available commodity. ![]()
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