Guardian of immortality. The inspector puts pen to paper and makes history ; Prisse, like Moses, carries home stone tablets and paper scrolls ; The undertaker's special and the world's first bestseller ; The book of the dead, guardian of immortality ; Papyrus paper, your ticket to paradise ; The sands of the Nile give up their treasures ; The affair of the oranges ; The floodgates open -- Egypt, papermaker to the world. The birth of Memphis and paper ; A gift from the gods ; The monopoly ; Growing and managing papyrus for paper ; The emperor and the lewd papermaker ; Taking on the world, and leaving a legacy -- The enemy of oblivion. Early libraries, paper, and the writing business ; A library to end all libraries and the sweet smell of history ; The Romans and the book trade ; Roman libraries ; Those precious, tender-hearted scrolls ; Saving the day ; Media one makes its mark in the world ; The last bastion, the church of Rome ; Constantinople and the long goodbye ; End of the road and the battle of the Talas river ; The myster of the disappearing plant ; The pharaoh's own conquers the Vatican ; The road back ; The road ahead.
Summary:
For our entire history, humans have always searched for new ways to share information. This innate compulsion led to the origin of writing on the rock walls of caves and coffin lids or carving on tablets. But it was with the advent of papyrus paper when the ability to record and transmit information exploded, allowing for an exchanging of ideas from the banks of the Nile throughout the Mediterranean--and the civilized world--for the first time in human history. In The Pharaoh's Treasure, John Gaudet looks at this pivotal transition to papyrus paper, which would become the most commonly used information medium in the world for more than 4,000 years. Far from fragile, papyrus paper is an especially durable writing surface; papyrus books and documents in ancient and medieval times had a usable life of hundreds of years, and this durability has allowed items like the famous Nag Hammadi codices from the third and fourth century to survive. The story of this material that was prized by both scholars and kings reveals how papyrus paper is more than a relic of our ancient past, but a key to understanding how ideas and information shaped humanity in the ancient and early modern world.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.