What's the difference between the paper you wrote and what the ancient Egyptians wrote?

From the release of species Calendar 2019

And

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day

Today is the last day of the question and answer session! If you want to know more about the work of calendar Niang and her friends, don't miss the big news of Calendar Niang Jian at the end of the article.

Let's first look at the dividing line of the text.

For graduate students, there are several English words that can be called magic words, and paper is one of them. When I was a PhD student, I used an old Nokia phone, and for a while, I said, "did you write paper today?" Set it as a boot welcome-as soon as you turn it on, you can see this greeting that may have some motivational effect.

Of course, the meaning of "paper" is only the extended meaning of the word "paper". Its basic meaning is "paper", which is the meaning that primary and secondary school students learn when they see the word for the first time in English textbooks today. Etymologically, it comes from the Latin "papyrus" and the ancient Greek "papyros", probably from the name of a plant in ancient Egypt, which is su grass (Cyperus papyrus).

Papyrus in the Kew Garden of London, England. Picture: Arpingstone / wikmedia

The gift of the Nile

Papyrus belongs to the family Cyperaceae. Cyperaceae is a large family, a bit like Gramineae in shape, but there is an important difference. The stems of Cyperaceae are mostly triangular, while those of Gramineae are mostly round. In addition, many Cyperaceae plants like to get wet and grow in habitats such as watersides, swamps or meadows.

Of course, if we are serious, it is not difficult to find many exceptions, but papyrus is typical in both characteristics-its stem is triangular and is native to the swamps of tropical Africa.

A triangular cross section of the stem of papyrus. Picture: INSAR / theferns.info

Papyrus by the Nile, photographed in Uganda. Picture: Michael Shade / wikmedia

Papyrus has a wide range of uses: its stems can be used to build ships, and this boat, made of many stalks, is one of the oldest types of ships; its woody underground stems can make containers such as bowls; the pulp in its young stems is even edible and suitable for raw and grilled food. However, it is best known for making papyrus as a carrier for writing.

A boat made of papyrus stalks. Picture: Will De Freitas / theferns.info

The side of civilization

If we omit the details, the process of making papyrus goes something like this: the stems of papyrus are split into thin strips, arranged side by side into a layer, and then arranged vertically on top of another layer; these two layers are compacted and dried, and become papyrus, which can be used for writing and painting.

Papyrus can be made into long pages, rolled up and stored. These are scrolls (roll), or they can be bound along one side (codex) as books do today.

A lady is showing the process of making papyrus. Picture: Aleksey Gureev / theferns.info

Despite the moisture of the Nile, most of Egypt still has a tropical desert climate, with little rainfall and hot and dry weather. In this dry environment, papyrus is relatively easy to preserve, so it is a very suitable writing material for ancient Egypt. However, in humid places like Europe, papyrus is easily damaged by damp and moldy, and its shelf life is greatly shortened, usually only a few decades.

Nevertheless, papyrus is still a more practical and easily available writing carrier than expensive sheepskin. So papyrus has been used in the ancient Mediterranean world and surrounding areas since it was invented by the ancient Egyptians, and it was not until the 8th century that it was gradually replaced by paper from China. Reed and sandalwood are also two kinds of plants that have to be mentioned.

Ancient Egyptian papyrus. Picture: wikmedia

During these thousands of years, countless papyrus documents were made and destroyed, and together with the culture they carried, they dissipated in the long river of history, and only a few survived. For example, in the late 19th century, the German Egyptologist Georg Ebers (Georg Ebers) obtained some papyrus documents, probably from mummy coffins, which are now dated around 1550 BC, detailing the drug treatments for some diseases. As a result, Ebers papyrus has become an extremely valuable document in the history of medicine.

For example, since the end of the 19th century, more than 5000 pieces of papyrus have been unearthed in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, mainly in the period of the ancient Roman Empire. Although most of them are trivial life records such as tax bills, account books, contracts, letters, star charts and so on, there are also a lot of valuable documents.

Some important materials such as the remnants of Euclid's original Geometry, the Athenian political system of Aristotle (or his disciples), the hater of the world by the ancient Greek dramatist Minand, the Greek Chronicles of Okhilinkus and the remnants of the New Testament and the Christian Scriptures have been found in Okhilinkus papyrus. These living objects show us one side of the prosperous ancient Greek civilization.

The British Museum displays papyrus scrolls from the 18th Dynasty (BC1550~BC1295) of ancient Egypt, which contain mantras chanted by priests at funeral ceremonies. Photo: Liu Jie

A weight that paper cannot bear.

Ironically, such a batch of papyrus documents, which can be called "Egyptian Dunhuang documents", are actually forged by Westerners in the eyes of some extreme nationalists in China, in order to prove that the entire ancient Greek civilization was later forged by Westerners.

Although serious scholars often ignore such nonsense from Russian stall literature, there is another issue that is more or less patriotic, which is the focus of debate in the history of science and technology-is papyrus paper?

According to the more mainstream point of view, papyrus is only similar to paper products, but not real paper. Real paper needs to meet two basic technical requirements: first, to break the raw materials into pulp so that the fibers in them are dispersed; second, to dip a tool called "curtain mold" into the pulp. when it is fished out, it is attached to a layer of fiber (in the term "papermaking"), which is stripped off and dried. Although today's papermaking is very advanced, it still follows these two technologies.

The main steps of papermaking. Picture: awagami.com

Historical records show that the "Cai Hou Paper" presented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in 105 AD was the first real paper to meet these two technical requirements. Therefore, the popular view of "Cai Lun Paper" for a long time is in fact correct.

However, out of the mentality that "it is not the first to fight for the first, but the first to fight for the oldest", the Chinese history of science and technology has to turn some of Cai Lun's "ancient paper" (some may not even be paper) into paper, forcibly expanding the definition of paper, and advancing China's papermaking to the Western Han Dynasty and even the warring States period. This brings a serious problem: since the definition of paper can be changed at will, isn't papyrus more qualified to be regarded as paper than Chinese "ancient paper"? In that case, isn't China the first country to invent papermaking?

The head of papyrus. Picture: Pete Oxford / naturepl.com

In fact, whether it is the age of papyrus or the age of real paper, there is one thing in common: most of the paper is ultimately used to record trivial, decadent, self-comforting things. There is no essential difference between us today and the Okshilinkus one or two thousand years ago.

This article is the 254th article in the fourth year of the species Calendar, from the author of the species Calendar @ Liu.

Big news on the calendar!

At the official announcement

Species Calendar 2019

Before the release date and theme

In order to let you know more about the species Calendar

A few days ago, Calendar Niang invited

Great editors, painters and authors

Come to the class to accept questions (ti á o).

I am the one who is on duty today.

Calendar Niang

Spit it out first: everyone's question is really

It's too hard to answer (guà)!

Onlookers

Is it true that Calendar Niang doesn't have X life?

"species Calendar 2019" is coming out, busy flying, there is no fantasy this! (not to mention that I am a baby.)

Calendar Niang

Onlookers

How is the daily hand cancer of Li Li Niang cured?

Just, it's not easy. You can only check it carefully several times (it's all for drumsticks! )

Calendar Niang

Onlookers

How does Li Niang's team complete a species calendar article?

Sell the species to the author (draft)

Chase the draft after the author every day, and use the skills of acting cute, forcing death, paying bribes with yogurt, body promise and so on.

When the manuscript was finally received, the editors had a fight to decide who would edit it.

The editor who wins or loses asks the author battle to finalize the details of the article.

In this way, an article with both color and flavor is completed.

Calendar Niang

Onlookers

Yesterday, I talked about all kinds of t á o drafts (zhzhi) postures of the authors. How do the calendar women deal with them?

So.

Calendar Niang

Onlookers

Calendar Niang, are you too late to make an appointment, and we don't have enough time?

naive! I obviously started digging (crossing out) manuscripts as soon as the New year's calendar came out! The duration of the contribution depends on whether the species is at the beginning of the year or at the end of the year, and the oldest species at the end of the year begin to prepare more than a year in advance!

Calendar Niang

Onlookers

When will the calendar for next year come out? Want to know your birthday species!

I'll tell you when the new calendar will come out tomorrow. As for birthday species, just get the species Calendar!

Calendar Niang

It will be officially announced tomorrow.

The release date of species Calendar 2019.

Guys, remember to guess the theme tomorrow!

Calendar Niang today's avatar

Cyperaceae water chestnut