Jessica Gössl

As they were relatively cheap and easy to produce, they were manufactured on a large scale.

Papyrus was used to record everything from folk tales to medical treatises, preserving valuable knowledge.

The availability of papyrus helped to improve levels of literacy and education across the kingdom and allowed Egyptian culture to flourish.

While some fragments of Egyptian papyri survive to this day, unfortunately, the vast majority of texts have been lost.

Papyrus is a fairly fragile material.

It fared better in the dry climate of Egypt, but didn't do so well in the damper conditions of Europe.

In part, this explains both the loss of ancient texts and why papyrus gradually declined in popularity.

That being said, both the ancient Greeks and the Romans relied heavily on papyrus, and there was a growing appetite for books.

Although very few ancient Greek books have survived, we've been left with some tantalizing glimpses of a literary culture that existed in Athens from the 5th century BCE.

Red figure vases depict men, women, and children reading papyrus scrolls.

A tombstone shows a young man absorbed by the papyrus in his lap.

Perhaps this is how he wanted to be remembered, as a reader.

We also know that around this time, there seems to have been a burgeoning book market in Athens.

For a reasonable price, Athenians could buy historical or philosophical works, or copies of plays,

Some texts were exported overseas.

Books were gradually becoming more accessible, if not to the general population, then at least to the literate elite.

The Greeks also built some remarkable libraries.

The most famous is undoubtedly the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.

which was under Greek rule at the time.

The Library of Alexandria is thought to have been established in the third century BCE.