Papyrus fragment of a letter placing an order
ca. 400 CE, Province of Egypt, Roman Empire (present-day Egypt)
Papyrus
This tantalizing papyrus fragment contains part of a hastily-scrawled letter written in Greek. A man named Melas orders twenty units of an unknown item, and states that the payment has already been deposited at the public bank. Papyrus was the most widespread writing surface in the ancient Mediterranean, made from the Egyptian Cyperus papyrus. The long stalks of the Nile River plant were cultivated, harvested, and cut into thin strips. The fibrous strips were pressed together perpendicularly in two layers, one on top of the other. Papyrus could then be assembled into rolls by gluing together overlapping sheets.
Joseph R. Kopta