"PapyrusPapyrus was the most important writing material in the ancient world. Our word "paper" derives from the word "papyrus", an Egyptian word which originally meant " "that which belongs to the house" (the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt). Papyrus is a triangular reed that grew along the banks of the Nile. Early in their history, the Egyptians developed a type of writing material made from the pith of the stem of the papyrus plant. At the same time, they developed a script that eventually served as the model for the world's two most common alphabets, Roman and Arabic. The task of the papyrologist is not only to decipher, transcribe and edit what is preserved, but also to reconstruct what is preserved. gets lost between the fragments and reconstitutes the whole. Most of the literature fragments come from papyrus scrolls, which could extend up to 35 feet in length. Papyrus was the most important writing material of the ancient world and perhaps the most important legacy of ancient Egypt; alongside, other (often cheaper) materials were used, such as wood and clay (broken shards of pottery with writing are called ostraca). On these materials were recorded everything from high literature to the myriad of published texts. Nine of the ten published texts are private letters or documents of every imaginable document and other communications of daily life. they reflect the daily affairs of government, commerce, and personal life in much the same way as modern records. Furthermore, the papyri have given rise to abundant new works of religious literature, not only on Judaism and Christianity, but also on traditional Greek and Roman cults, on Manichaeism and on the early history of the 'Islam. Papyri also constitute our most important source for the actual functioning of law in ancient societies. . In addition to papyri, the Michigan collection contains other writing surfaces used in the ancient world, such as ostraca (pot shards), lead, wax, and wooden tablets, parchment, and, more rarely , the paper. The papyri are primarily in Greek, but with a range similar to that of Michigan. Condition of materials But they are of course much older than most paper manuscripts, and most papyri are torn on several sides, if not all. They usually come out dirty, wrinkled. , and twisted, unless they have been kept in a box or jar (as sometimes happens). Ostraca are often broken and sometimes have a significant amount of salt in the tissue if they have remained on affected ground.