THE parchment was the material and support on which texts were written in Antique and on Middle Ages. Its leaves were made from the skin of animals (such as goats and sheep), in a very long process. They were considered a high-value commodity.
Parchment appeared in the 2nd century BC. C., in Pérgamo, a Greek city. Over time, it replaced papyrus as the most used writing material in the past. Scribes could reuse it for its quality, and they did so for its price. The popularization of paper and the invention of the press caused the parchment to be abandoned little by little.
Read more: Egyptian hieroglyphics — type of writing that most influenced Egyptian society
Topics in this article
- 1 - Summary on parchment
- 2 - What was the parchment used for?
- 3 - History of writing
- 4 - Emergence of the parchment
parchment summary
Parchment was a material for writing, being the surface on which texts were recorded.
It emerged in the 2nd century BC. C., in Pergamum, a city in the zone of influence of the Greek culture.
It was produced with the skin of animals such as sheep, sheep, goats, etc.
They could be reused, in which case they were called palimpsests.
Those made from the skin of newborn animals were considered to be of higher quality and were called vellum.
What was the parchment for?
The parchment was a writing material widely used in Antiquity and the Middle Ages and it fulfilled the function that a paper fulfills for us today. It was, therefore, a surface on which writing was recorded. It was made of animal skin, such as sheep, mutton, cow, goat, among others.
Parchment was very common, but its popularization took a long time to happen because it was a expensive stuff, and this prevented its large-scale acquisition. In addition, the production of the parchment was considered slow because it included many and long steps. The emergence of the material took place in the 2nd century, in the Greek city Pergamum.
In addition, there was the vellum paper, a kind of parchment of the highest quality and which had a very thin thickness. It was produced exclusively with the skin of newborn animals. Ordinary parchment was much thicker in thickness.
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history of writing
The emergence of writing is a milestone in the history of humanity, and we know that the first form of writing was developed by the sumerians, around 3500 BC. Ç. to 3000 a. Ç. This form of writing was called cuneiform. The emergence of writing brought the need for some material so that it could be recorded.
Throughout human history, different means have been used to record writing, such as clay, wood, bones, plaster, wax, skins, among others, by different civilizations. One of the most traditional materials in this sense, in antiquity, was papyrus.
The term papyrus is the way the greeks referred to what the egyptians called “papuro”. The papyrus was basically the sheet of paper produced fromis plant also known as papyrus (Cyperus papyrus). This plant was very traditional in Egypt and found in large quantities along the banks of the Nile.
The Egyptians considered papyrus a sacred plant and used it to produce a series of objects and utensils, the papyrus sheet being one of them. This leaf was produced with the stems of the plant, cut into strips that were overlapped to form a layer with the stems.
These strips were pressed together to make them stick, and then sent out to dry. Thus, the fibers of the papyrus strip stuck together, forming a surface that was polished and still received an oil. This surface was perfect for recording Egyptian texts and was mainly used for administrative and religious purposes.
The production of papyrus in the Egypt happened in great quantity, and this material for writing started to be exported to other regions, such as Greece and Pomegranate. It was used until the 11th century and progressively replaced by parchment.
Read more: Literature in Ancient Egypt — was deeply influenced by religion and philosophy
emergence of parchment
An account of a Roman of the 1st century BC. Ç. points out that the parchment came about as result of a dispute between Eumenes II, king of Pergamum, and Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Ptolemy is said to have been displeased when he received news that Eumenes II planned to build a large library in Pergamum. To sabotage the enterprise, he decided to stop selling papyrus to Pergamum.
Eumenes II, then, would have motivated the creation of an alternative to end Pergamum's dependence on Egyptian papyrus, and from there the parchment would have been created. This report, however, is not considered official, since there are doubts about the reliability of its author.
Anyway, the parchment originated in Pergamum, Asia Minor (now Turkey), and its name in Greek already makes us realize the relationship with this city. The Greeks called it parchment, and the Romans, from parchment. Your production process was long, and can be explained like this:
Animal skins were obtained.
The hides were dipped in water with calcium oxide and washed, in order to remove impurities and pieces of meat from the hide.
The skins were laid out to dry and stretched out on a clothesline, which pulled them in all directions.
The leather became thinner and more malleable, making it easier to cut and handle.
The sheets were cut and could be positioned in the form of a codex — a notebook in which the pages are sewn together and protected with a hardcover.
This form of organization of the sheets gave rise to the book as we know it today. This whole process made parchment an expensive commodity and, therefore, its popularization only happened from the 4th century AD. Ç. Its price forced scribes to reuse it, and that was one of the great advantages of the material. Unlike papyrus, parchment could be reused, the scribe only had to scratch its surface to erase the written text.
A scroll could be reused several times, becoming called a palimpsest. As mentioned, there was also vellum, a more delicate parchment, considered to be of superior quality, as it was produced from the skin of newborn animals.
the parchment ceased to be used from the 14th and 15th centuries, because paper became popular in Europe and the printing press was invented by Gutenberg, allowing paper to be used on a large scale. Another important factor is that paper was more affordable than parchment.
by Daniel Neves
History teacher
