UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

The legacy of Pharaonic Egypt
Egyptian word paperaâ which means 'He of-the-Great-Residence' (Royal
Palace) which has come down to us from classical antiquity.
Papyrus was made by placing crosswise successive layers of fine strips
taken from the stem of the plant which, after pressing and drying, formed
a large sheet.
Twenty sheets of papyrus joined together while they were still moist
formed a scroll 3 to 6 metres in length. Several scrolls could be joined
together and reach a length of 30 or 40 metres. It was this scroll that
constituted Egyptian books. They were held in the left hand and unrolled
as the reading proceeded. The volumen of classic antiquity is a direct heir
of this scroll.
Of all the writing materials employed in antiquity, papyrus was certainly
the most practical. It was supple and light. Its sole drawback was its
fragility. Over a long period it stood up poorly to humidity, and it burnt
very easily. It has been estimated that to maintain the inventory of a small
Egyptian temple, 10 metres of papyrus were required each month.
Provincial notaries, during the Ptolemaic dynasty, used from six to thirteen
scrolls or 25-57 metres each day. Every large estate and royal palace and all
the temples maintained registers, inventories and libraries, which indicates
that hundreds of kilometres of papyrus must have existed at that time
whereas only a few hundreds of metres have been rediscovered.
The papyrus used in Egypt from the time of the firstdynasty (c. —3000)
until the end of the Pharaonic period was later adopted by the Greeks, the
Romans, the Copts, the Byzantines, the Aramaeans and the Arabs. A large
part of Greek and Latin literature has come down to us on papyrus.
Papyrus scrolls were one of the principal exports of Egypt. Papyrus
was, unquestionably, one of the major legacies bequeathed to civilization
by Pharaonic Egypt.
All these industries depended on techniques and skills and led to the
creation of a body of artisans and improved techniques. The museums
and private collections throughout the world contain hundreds, even
thousands, of archaeological examples of the various products of ancient
Egypt.
Not the least of their technical contributions to the world were their
tradition and ability in stonemasonry. It was no easy task to transform
huge blocks of granite, limestone, basalt and diorite from raw material
into well-shaped polished masonry required by various architectural
designs.
Moreover, the search for stone to build their monuments, no less than
prospection for ores and efforts to discover fibres,semi-precious stones and
coloured pigments, contributed to the spread of Egyptian techniques to Asia
and Africa.
The Egyptians did not hesitate to fetch their stone from the open desert,
sometimes going as far as 100 kilometres from the Nile. The quarry
from which the diorite came for the famous statue of Chephren in the
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