Coventina's History Thread: Where does paper come from? [View all]

Paper, as we know it today, is a Chinese invention.

However, I'll get to that in a future thread.

Today, I want to talk about the ancient paper-precursor: Papyrus!

Papyrus, as invented and made in ancient Egypt, predates paper by about 3000 years!

We even call "paper" "paper" because it comes from papyrus!

Ancient Egyptians developed it by hammering strips of the papyrus plant into a unified sheet for writing. The Egyptians even sold it to the Greeks and Romans until around 300 BCE. With their papyrus supply cut off, Greeks and Romans turned to parchment, which is made from the skins of a variety of animals. (More on parchment at a later date as well).

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