![]() ![]() Papyrus was the key in stemming the devastation to the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River from raging peat fires (that last for years), and the papyrus laden shores of Lake Victoria-which provides water to more than 30 million people-will be crucial as the global drying of the climate continues. In an ironic twist, Egypt is faced with enormous pollution loads that forces them to import food supplies, and yet papyrus is one of the most effective and efficient natural pollution filters known to man. Today, it is not just a curious relic of our ancient past, but a rescuing force for modern ecological and societal blight. ![]() Disastrous weather in the 6th Century caused famines and plagues that almost to wipe out civilization in the west, but it was papyrus to the rescue. In ancient Egypt, the papyrus bounty from the Nile delta provided not just paper for record keeping-instrumental to the development of civilization-but food, fuel and boats. It produces its own “soil”-a peaty, matrix that floats on water-and inspired the fluted columns of the ancient Greeks. At its heart a spirited love letter to language itself, Papyrus takes listeners on a journey across the centuries to discover how a simple reed grown along the banks of the Nile would give birth to a rich and cherished culture.From ancient Pharaohs to 21st Century water wars, papyrus is a unique plant that is now the fastest growing plant species on earth. To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at. Through nimble interpretations of the classics, playful and moving anecdotes about her own encounters with the written word, and fascinating stories from history, Vallejo weaves a marvelous tapestry of Western culture’s foundations and identifies the humanist values that helped make us who we are today. Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, translated by Charlotte Whittle, is published by Hodder (£25). Crucially, Vallejo also draws connections to our own time, from the library in war-torn Sarajevo to Oxford’s underground labyrinth, underscoring how words have persisted as our most valuable creations. Award-winning author Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world from Greece’s itinerant bards to Rome’s multimillionaire philosophers, from opportunistic forgers to cruel teachers, erudite librarians to defiant women, all the while illuminating how ancient ideas about education, censorship, authority, and identity still resonate today. ![]() Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. So, what did her give her? Books for her library-200,000, in fact. The long and eventful history of the written word shows that books have always been and always will be a precious-and precarious-vehicle for civilization. Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. When Mark Antony wanted to impress Cleopatra, he knew that gold and priceless jewels would mean nothing to her. Emperors and Pharaohs were so determined to possess them that they dispatched emissaries to the edges of earth to bring them back. Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand-copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. A rich exploration of the importance of books and libraries in the ancient world that highlights how humanity’s obsession with the printed word has echoed throughout the ages. ![]()
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