"PapyrusPapyrus was the most important writing material in the ancient world. Our word "paper" comes from the word "papyrus", an Egyptian word that originally meant "that which belongs to the house"" ( the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt). Papyrus is a triangular reed that grew along the banks of the Nile, and early in their history the Egyptians developed a kind of writing material made from the pith inside the stem of the papyrus plant. At the same time they developed a writing that ultimately provided the model for the world's two most common alphabets, Roman and Arabic. The task of the papyrologist is not only to decipher, transcribe and modify what is preserved, but also to reconstruct what is preserved. he gets lost among the fragments and reconstructs the whole. Most fragments of literature derive from papyrus scrolls, which could span up to 35 feet in length. Papyrus was the most important writing material of the ancient world and perhaps the most important legacy of ancient Egypt; alongside it, other (often cheaper) materials were used, such as wood and clay (broken ceramic shards with writings are called ostraca). Everything from high literature to the myriad of nine out of ten published texts have been recorded on these materials are private letters or documents of every imaginable document and other communications of everyday life. they reflect the daily affairs of government, commerce, and personal life in much the same way as modern documents. Furthermore, abundant new works of religious literature have arrived from the papyri not only for Judaism and Christianity, but also for traditional Greek and Roman cults, for Manichaeism and for the ancient history of Islam. Papyri are also our most important source for the actual functioning of law in ancient societies. . In addition to papyri, the Michigan collection contains other writing surfaces in use in the ancient world, such as ostraca (pot fragments), lead, wax and wood tablets, parchment, and, rarely, paper. The papyri are mostly in Greek, but with a similar range to that of Michigan. Condition of materials But it is obviously much older than most paper manuscripts, and most papyri are torn on several, if not all, sides. They usually emerge dirty, crumpled. and twisted, unless they have been stored in a box or jar (as is occasionally the case). Ostraca are often broken and sometimes contain significant salt in the fabric if they have remained on the ground reached