Papyrus sheet from Egypt
Ancient Egypt - pharaohs, pyramids, papyrus
These are the three p-terms coming into our minds immediately when thinking about the fabulous world of the old Egyptians. The pharaohs` pursue of immortality and joining the world of the Gods resulted in the construction of the great pyramids which are fascinating us even today. A lesser known fact is that the small papyrus sheet acted also as a mummies´ cover, for example.
For that purpose the papyri (plural of papyrus) were sticked together to entire cardboard packages. And even nowadays old texts still readible can be found on the papyrus sheet when peeling off the cardboard packages. In the ancient world papyrus sheet was the most important material to write on ever, so at that time it played the same part as paper does today, so to say. The German expression "Papier" refers to the Latin expression "papyrus" that is borrowed from the Greek "pápyros" which again is based on the reconstructed ancient Greek expression "pa-en-per-aa", meaning more or less "from pharao".
- Handworked papyrus for impressive writings
- Size: approx. 20 x 15 cm
- Material: pulp of the papyrus plant
- Manufacture: Handwork from Egypt
- Property: naturally embedded leaf margins
The papyrus sheet is telling history and captures the world
In old Egypt papyrus has been used as a material to write on already from the third century before Christ and it remained the common writing material for letters or certificates until the early Middle Ages. Although papyrus is very sensitive to humidity or mechanical strain, however the material shows an amazing long-term durability and it provided many valuable informations especially to the archaeologists. The most famous papyrus rolls are the Herculaneum papyri which were preserved by massive ash layers from the powerful Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 Anno Domini and were found only through accidentally later excavations.
Further more than 400.000 papyri from the old Egyptian Oxyrhynchus will bring up much interesting information again. Also the history of Cleopatra shows the meaning of the papyrys rolls. For a very long time she could not forgive Caesar that his soldiers set the large, famous and destructive fire in the library of Alexandria whereby thousands of significant papyrus writings were destroyed. After this event Caesar had to promise her to deliver each new-found document from his conquered territories to her library. Indeed, Caesar kept his promise to keep the favour of this fascinating ruler.
The papyrus sheet - a successful product "made in Egypt"
Plinius the Elder had depicted the manufacture of papyrus already in his 13th book of natural history in the first century Anno Domini. And exactly in accordance with this old tradition still today the papyri are manufactured in handwork in Egypt. Today interested parties can be delighted to get a free step-by-step instruction about the traditional manufacture of the product in addition to the papyrus sheet of superior quality. The papyrus sheet is not only a "Genuine Premium Papyrus", but at the same time an ecofriendy natural product of pulp of the papyrus plant. This "Genuine Papyrus" (Cyperus papyrus) belongs to the species of nut grasses (Cyperus) and can reach a size of 3 metres at the maximum.
A small papyrus sheet with great capability
The possible uses of papyrus are really very varied. Especially in the world of today where email and SMS are dominating, such a small papyrus sheet is suited very well as a love letter, for birthday or Valentine´s Day, to speak boldly how greatly valued another person is. After all individuality and creativity are rated highly again. A dinner invitation for the boss, written on a papyrus sheet, does not only provide topics of conversation, it shows ingenuity, too. Papyrus sheets are also very popular among artists because they can be painted with attractive acrylic paints or pastel colours. Regardless wheather for use in school or at a museum´s workshop, papyrus sheets are always a welcome supplement to the classical learning materials, quasi "approachable history".
Let your fantasy float wide and surprise your sweethearts or also yourself with this simple and at the same time fascinating wonder of nature and human ingenuity.
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