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Concept
History of scrolls
Summary
A scroll (from the Old French escroe or escroue), is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. The history of scrolls dates back to ancient Egypt. In most ancient literate cultures scrolls were the earliest format for longer documents written in ink or paint on a flexible background, preceding bound books; rigid media such as clay tablets were also used but had many disadvantages in comparison. For most purposes scrolls have long been superseded by the codex book format, but they are still produced for some ceremonial or religious purposes, notably for the Jewish Torah scroll for use in synagogues.
Scrolls were the first form of editable record keeping texts, used in Eastern Mediterranean ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Parchment scrolls were used by several early civilizations before the codex, or bound book with pages, was invented by the Romans and popularized by Christianity. Nevertheless, scrolls were more highly regarded than codices until well into Roman times.
Scrolls were used by the Hebrews to record their religious texts, which today is referred to as the Tanakh. Some of these ancient scrolls are known today, i.e., the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Scrolls were used by the ancient Greeks. In Roman usage the scrolls were written latitudinally, usually placed on podiums with roll holders from which the rolls were unwound.
A vertically rolled form was also used, called a rotulus.
The Romans eventually found the scroll too cumbersome for lengthy works and developed the codex, which is the formal name for the modern style of book, with individual pages bound together.
Scrolls continued to be used at times during the Early Church era until the Early Middle Ages, but Christianity was an early adopter of the codex. It is often thought that this reflects the background in trade of many early Christians, who were used to codex notebooks, and less attached to the form that was traditional among the Roman elite and religious Jews.
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