papyrus

Ingredients

papyrus, tooth, seashell

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The production of high-quality papyrus sheets involved correcting irregularities on the dry material by polishing the surface with a tooth (dens) or a seashell (p. 8). This burnishing process was intended to eliminate manufacturing defects and achieve a smooth, fine writing surface that was considered high quality (p. 10). Specifically, the recto (inside surface) of funerary, Ptolemaic, and Roman papyri often shows evidence of additional smoothing treatments to distinguish it from the coarser outside surface (p. 10).

Evidence

"In the manufacture of papyrus, the burnishing of the writing surface was included as a kind of refinement process."

Remarks

The paper links the technical vocabulary of the alchemical papyri (specifically the verb odontizō) to the professional craft of 'paper-makers' (chartopoiós) and 'papyrus dealers' (p. 13). The smoothing of the papyrus surface with a tooth or seashell facilitated the use of fine pens and hindered the ink from being overly absorbed or vanishing (p. 8-9).