PAPYRUS (pap-i'rus), the paper reed, the Cyperus Papyrus (Linn.) in ancient times cultivated in the Delta of Egypt, where it was used for various purposes, and especially as a writing material. The plant is now extinct in Lower Egypt, but is found in the Upper Nile regions and in Abyssinia. The first accurate de scription of the plant is given by Theophrastus, from whom we learn that it grew in shallows of 2 cubits (about 3 ft.) or less, its main root being of the thickness of a man's wrist and io cubits in length. From this root, which lay horizontally, smaller roots pushed down into the mud, and the stem of the plant sprang up to the height of 4 cubits, being triangular and tapering in form.
The various uses to which the papyrus plant was applied are also enumerated by Theophrastus. Of the head nothing could be made but garlands for the shrines of the gods ; but the wood of the root was employed in the manufacture of different utensils as well as for fuel. Of the stem of the plant were made boats, sails, mats, cloth, cords, and, above all, writing materials. Its pith was also a common article of food, and was eaten both cooked and in its natural state. Herodotus, too, notices its consumption as food, and incidentally mentions that it provided the material of which the priests' sandals were made. He likewise refers to its use as tow for caulking the seams of ships. That the plant was itself used also as the principal mate rial in the construction of light skiffs suitable for the navigation of the pools and shallows of the Nile, and even of the river itself, is shown by sculptures of the fourth dynasty, in which men are represented building a boat with stems cut from a neighbouring plantation of papyrus. It is to boats of this description that Isaiah (xviii. 2) probably refers in the "vessels of bulrushes upon the waters." The widespread use throughout the ancient world of the writing material manufactured from the papyrus plant is attested by early writers, and by documents and sculptures. Papyrus rolls are rep resented in ancient Egyptian wall paintings ; and extant examples of the rolls themselves are suffi ciently numerous. The early use of papyrus among the Greeks is proved by the reference of Herodotus to its introduction among the Ionian Greeks, who gave it the name of otcPKpat, "skins," the material to which they had already been accustomed.
In Athens it was doubtless in use for literary as well as for other purposes as early as the 5th century B.C. An inscription relating to the rebuilding of the Erechtheum in 407 B.C. records the purchase of two papyrus rolls.
Papyrus also made its way into Italy, but at how early a period there is nothing to show. It may be presumed, however, that from the very first it was employed as the vehicle for Roman literature. Under the Empire its use must have been extensive, for not only was it required for the production of books, but it was universally employed for domestic purposes, correspondence and legal docu ments.
The account which Pliny (N .H . xiii. ii–i3) has transmitted to us of the manufacture of the writing material from the papyrus plant should be taken strictly to refer to the process followed in his own time ; but, with some differences in details, the same gen eral method of treatment had doubtlessly been practised from time immemorial. His text, however, is so confused, both from obscur ity of style and from corruptions in the mss., that there is much difference of opinion as to the meaning of many words and phrases employed in his narrative, and their application in particular points of detail. In one important particular, however, affecting the primary construction of the material, there can no longer be any doubt. The old idea that it was made from layers growing between the rind and a central stalk has been abandoned, as it has been proved that the plant, like other reeds, contains only a cellular pith within the rind. The stem was in fact cut into longitudinal strips, those from the centre of the plant being the broadest and most valuable. The strips (inae, philyrae) were laid side by side to the required width, thus forming a layer (scheda), across which another layer of shorter strips was laid at right angles. The two layers thus "woven"—Pliny uses the word texere in describing this part of the process—formed a sheet (plagula or net), which was then soaked in water of the Nile.