Free lesson on Papyrus
Click here (http://members.cox.net/tei/lessonSamples/Papyrus.pdf) for free lesson introducing students to the main writing material in Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome. This lesson is written for mainstream students.

Free lesson on Papyrus Basic
Click here (http://members.cox.net/tei/lessonSamples/PapyrusBasic.pdf ) for free lesson introducing students to the main writing material in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. This lesson is written especially for students who are learning English as a second language, students who are academically challenged, or students in lower grades. Stories and assignments are written at an appropriate readability level. Information on WideHorizon lessons available at: http://members.cox.net/waldorfedu/weredu/

Enable your students to work with high quality authentic papyrus imported from Egypt. Visit http://members.cox.net/waldorfedu/waldorfeduPages/Papyrus.html

The ancient Egyptians were the first to manufacture, by at least two thousand years, a high quality writing material. The discovery of an uninscribed roll of papyrus in a tomb at Saqqaray indicated tha they achieved this in the first Dynasty (3100- 2900 B.C.E.) Although it is now extinct in lower (northern) Egypt, the papyrus reed (Cyperus Papyrus) grew profusely along the banks of the Nile in past times. It reached a considerable height, 12 to 25 feet, and its triangular stems were almost two inches thick.

Papyrus was regarded as a valuable commodity with multiple uses: the rind, stripped from the stem, was used for making mats, cloth, sandals and rope. The pith was a popular food, eaten either cooked or raw. As a substitute for wood, the woody roots of the plant were used to make household utensils and also as fuel. One of the most important uses was in the construction of boats. When bundles of papyrus stems were lashed together they made extremely buoyant boats.

However, the use of papyrus as writing material surpasses in ingenuity all its other uses. The process certainly originated from the mind of someone with tremendous inventive ability. After removing the rind from several papyrus stems, cut to the required length, the inner pith was sliced into thin strips laid side by side, overlapping on a piece of cloth placed on a hard level surface. When the required width had been reached, further strips were laid on top of, and at right angles to, the first layer, again slightly overlapping each other.

Next, the pile of neatly arranged pith was covered with a second piece of cloth, and carefully, but firmly, beaten for a prolonged period with a length of heavy wood, possibly a mallet or similar tool. This beating both separated the individual papyrus fibers in both layers, and also, by means of the starch exuded from the pith, welded them together.

The process required considerable skill to ensure that the vertical and horizontal fibers were not displaced during the beating operation. After beating, the finished sheet was about the same thickness as modern writing paper. It was then sun dried and, if necessary, surface polished by rubbing with a smooth stone. The sheets were together to form a long scroll according to the requirements of the scribes. The length of these rolls varied considerably: the Great Harris Papyrus is the longest known scroll. It measures 135 feet.

Enable your students to work with high quality authentic papyrus imported from Egypt. Visit http://members.cox.net/waldorfedu/waldorfeduPages/Papyrus.html