An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson.

  • Edward Maunde Thompson
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/624 page 26
    Finally, there were the Taeniotica—which was said to have taken its name from the place where it was made, a tongue of land (raivia) near Alexandria—and the common packing-paper, charta ein'poretica, neithei- of which was more than 5 inches wide. Mention is made Ijy Isidore, EtjimoL vi. 10, of a ([uality of papyrus called Cornelicma, which was first made under C. Coi’nelius Gallus when prefect of Egypt. But the name may have disappeared from the vocabulary when Gallus fell into disgrace.^ Another kind was manufactured in the reign of Claudius, and on that account was named Claiidia. It was a made-up material, combining the Auguda and Livia, to pi'ovide a stout substance. Finally, there was a large-sized quality, of a cubit or nearly 18 inches in width, called macTOCollon. Cicero made use of it {Epp. ad Attic, xiii. 25 ; xvi. 3). An examination of existing specimens seems to show that the KoWijgaTa I’ange chiefly between 8 and 12 inches in width, the larger number being of 10 inches. Of smaller sizes, a certain proportion are between 5 and 6 inches.^ Varro, repeated by Pliny, xiii. 11, makes the extraordinary statement that papyrus writing material was first made in Alexander’s time. He may have been misled from having found no reference to its use in pre-Alexandrine authors; or he may have meant to say that its first free manufacture was only of that date, as it was previously a govern- ment monopoly. Papyrus continued to be the ordinary writing material in Egypt to a comparatively late period; ^ it was eventually superseded by the excellent paper of the Arabs. In Latin literature it was gradually displaced in the early centuries of our era by the growing employment of vellum, which, by the fourth century had practically superseded it. But it still lingered in Europe under various conditions. Long after vellum had become the principal writing material, especially for literaiy purposes, papyrus continued in use, particularly for ordinary documents, such as letters. St. Jerome, Ep. vii, mentions vellum as a material for letters, ‘ if papyrus fails ’; and St. Augustine, Ep. xv, apologizes for using vellum instead of papyrus. A fragmentary epistle in Greek, sent apparently by the Empei’or, Michael II or Theophilus, to Louis le D^bonnaire between 824 and 839, is preserved at Paris.^ A few fragments of Greek literary papyri written in Eiirope in the early middle ages, containing Biblical matter and portions of Graeco-Latin glossaries, liave also survived. > Birt, Ant. Biichiv. 250. ^ W. Schuhiirt, Das Bvch hei den Griechen und Bomem. “ The middle of tlie tenth century is the period when it Inis been calculated the manu- facture of papyrus in Egypt ceased.—Karabaeek, Das arahische Papier, in MiMieilunejen aiis der Snmmlung der Papyrus Erzherzoy liainer, ii-iii (1887), 98. IT. Omont in Hev. ArchMugique, xix (1892], 384.
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