DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0135
118 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
in every place except the Sebennytie Nome,—so that poor people
■were obliged to write accounts, or memoranda, ou fragments
of pottery, and other cheap materials; and even artists practised
their pencil, and made rough sketches, on pieces of prepared
wood, or slabs of limestone.
But custom or law required that public documents, con-
veyances, deeds, and all large funereal rituals should be drawn
out on the authorised papyrus (except on certain occasions,
when leather, skins, or prepared cloth were permitted); and the
papyrus may be said to correspond to one of our stamps for
legalising an important paper, and ensuring its validity. The
effect of this at length recoiled on the authors of so short-
sighted, and illiberal, a policy; the neighbouring princes and
others who collected libraries, soon found out substitutes for
the papyrus,—and parchment, which received its name from
Pergamus, where it was first employed on a great Bcale for
paper, made the kings of that place independent of the Egyptian
papyrus. Other substitutes were afterwards invented, and
paper from cotton and linen rags at length entirely superseded
the once famous papyrus. The prophecy of Isaiah, that " the
paper-reeds by the brooks . . . shall wither, be driven away,
and be no more," has come to pass,—the plant is no longer a
native of Egypt, and it is now only found in the Anapus near
Syracuse, and in a stream of Syria.
The dried flower-heads of the papyrus have been found in the
tombs, and the plant is often represented in the paintings.
The occupations of the painter and sculptor were not
omitted on the walls of the tombs; and though the monuments
themselves bear sufficient testimony of their skill, one fact is
recorded in the 'paintings of Beni Ilassan, which we might
not have learnt from any other source. This is their early
art of painting upon panel, which is shown to have been
in every place except the Sebennytie Nome,—so that poor people
■were obliged to write accounts, or memoranda, ou fragments
of pottery, and other cheap materials; and even artists practised
their pencil, and made rough sketches, on pieces of prepared
wood, or slabs of limestone.
But custom or law required that public documents, con-
veyances, deeds, and all large funereal rituals should be drawn
out on the authorised papyrus (except on certain occasions,
when leather, skins, or prepared cloth were permitted); and the
papyrus may be said to correspond to one of our stamps for
legalising an important paper, and ensuring its validity. The
effect of this at length recoiled on the authors of so short-
sighted, and illiberal, a policy; the neighbouring princes and
others who collected libraries, soon found out substitutes for
the papyrus,—and parchment, which received its name from
Pergamus, where it was first employed on a great Bcale for
paper, made the kings of that place independent of the Egyptian
papyrus. Other substitutes were afterwards invented, and
paper from cotton and linen rags at length entirely superseded
the once famous papyrus. The prophecy of Isaiah, that " the
paper-reeds by the brooks . . . shall wither, be driven away,
and be no more," has come to pass,—the plant is no longer a
native of Egypt, and it is now only found in the Anapus near
Syracuse, and in a stream of Syria.
The dried flower-heads of the papyrus have been found in the
tombs, and the plant is often represented in the paintings.
The occupations of the painter and sculptor were not
omitted on the walls of the tombs; and though the monuments
themselves bear sufficient testimony of their skill, one fact is
recorded in the 'paintings of Beni Ilassan, which we might
not have learnt from any other source. This is their early
art of painting upon panel, which is shown to have been