Make bookmarks itself

Create bookmarks yourself | Gladiators - Heroes of the Arena

For example, the Roman bookmark with the image of a Roman gladiator. As with all our products, we aim for authenticity. You will not find a simple picture, but discover a real Murmillo! He is very heavily armed, as the Murmillo gladiators were, so that the students can learn what equipment belonged to heroes of antiquity; likewise, we offer firm short swords, the so called gladius, and also the scutum, the shield of the gladiators or their manica, or handguard and even the net.

The Murmillo gladiator derived his name from murma, a sea fish, that was caught with a net. Hence, the Murmillo gladiator was the Roman gladiator who fought primarily with the most popular gladiator, the Retarius, the one armed with a net. Elements like these can be explored, and visually or physically experienced. Not only to see and listen, but also to play gladiators will make the students excited and bring fun into the class room. After all, the gladiators in ancient Rome were comparable to today's sport stars!

Making bookmarks | Roman Architecture

Among the numerous other, exciting bookmarks from genuine Papyrus on these pages of the Roman Shop, you will find various column types to discover which allow to historically place Roman buildings. It can be easy and entertaining, to teach students what looks like a Corinthian column.

Making bookmarks | Roman gods

Our bookmark with the image of the God invites mercury into the world of the ancient gods. The Romans had about twelve "old gods" and to more 12 'new' main gods, which they took over from the Greek pantheon. Being able to create these gods yourself is pure fun and introduces into an exciting story, where students learn that all these Roman gods had not only their functions in the everyday cult of the Romans, they were also shrouded with legendary stories and myths, which translated into their emblems and iconography. Once a student has created and painted a god on genuine Papyrus, the student's opinion about the past Roman god of Mercurius will change, he will become alive under the student’s hands and discover that his name goes back to goods (Latin merx).

Hence, he will never forget that Mercury is regarded as the Messenger of the gods, because he is the God of the merchants as well as the thieves and thus has the same status as the Greek god Hermes.

Paint the Egyptian eye of Horus and create your own bookmark

The Egyptian eye of Horus comes as a wonderful bookmark made from genuine premium Papyrus. The eye of Horus is also called Udjat eye (udjat stands for intact, complete, healing, or healthy). The Udjat eye is an old Egyptian symbol of the light of the God Horus. It is also an Egyptian hieroglyph that had magical significance and was used even in mathematics. The eye of Horus had been healed by Thoth who restored Horus’ left eye (the "moon eye"). Originally, the symbol served to protect and had been used since the beginning of the Old Egyptian Kingdom until the end of the Pharaonic period as an amulet - a protective signs against the "evil eye". In the New Kingdom we find tomb walls and grave goods decorated with it. Considered as a "magic eye" it has gained a great degree of popularity. Also applied in mathematics, it found its way into teaching.

The so-called master fractions (1/x) and the multiples of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64) were written as elements of the eye of Horus. Of historical interest for the brighter mathematicians amongst the students might be that the sum of the fractions have been lost because of the God Thoth! In medicine, the eye of Horus was used as an amulet, and also, perhaps, as an element of healing spells.

Bookmarks write histories

Get your students inspired by this and other bookmarks, by the God Thot (referred to above) or by Osiris, Horus and others. In the category Teaching Material on Egypt you will find a wide range of tools for teaching history in a creative way. Actively learned, knowledge gets less easily lost.

Create your own Egyptian gods on bookmarks

The Egyptian bookmarks from genuine Papyrus come with a variety of motives, for example, you will find the Egyptian God Anubis, who as a deity with his head of a jackal is responsible for the embalming of the dead. The literal translation of his name means: "The one who is in the binding of the mummy." The typical attribute of the God of Anubis is the jackal or a man with the head of a jackal. The bookmarks are made from genuine Papyrus. You can colour them out or paint them with all popular colours, acrylic paint or watercolour. Especially tempera paints are recommended with their intense colour, and they were already used by the Egyptians. Hence, your students can create their own bookmarks which were already used in the Egyptian culture.

Create medieval bookmarks

On the following pages of Teaching Material on the Middle Ages you will find different bookmarks made from genuine papyrus. Although in the Middle Ages, paper from China is being imported, we still find the use of papyrus, especially in the Byzantine Empire. Create your own bookmarks which can be painted by students using conventional paints and pens, watercolours or tempera, all material that you can find in this category.

Writing as in the Middle Ages

Let the students write on papyrus, make them use a feather! And they will rediscover, how a slow, calligraphic writing style makes you think about what you write. Instead of short cut thoughts, you can develop the fine design which suits the importance of what you have to say.

Designed with a quill

Writing in the Middle Ages was art work. A goose feather (or other quill) was cut, some of the fletchings removed to make it fitter for use. Goose feathers were the most commonly used writing tool until about 200 years ago. And it has big advantages. It allowed for long and wide strokes, made an impressive design and gave weight to the words you wrote. There was little difference between graphics and writing. And, if the quill broke, you could cut it back again and harden it by sticking it into hot sand. Brushes for illuminations were made from hair of weasel and squirrel.

Make your students try out to write on genuine papyrus or parchment and let them use authentic, self-made medieval ink. In the Middle Ages the most commonly used ink was made from soot, ox gall, egg white and water. The soot ensured the coloring, the ox gall allowed the soot to mix, the egg white made the ink stick and remain on the surface and the water diluted the ink to the writeable consistency.

Create your own bookmarks

You can make your own bookmarks from genuine Papyrus using all common colors, such as acrylic or watercolor painting. Especially tempera paints are recommended however, since they have a very good covering colour strength and also because they were already used during the Middle Ages.