What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?
score:5
A little Googling suggests that it has nothing to do with the writing surface itself, but was just a common-sense result of how a roll of papyrus behaved. This essay from the US' Metropolitan Museum of Art says:
Papyri were always rolled with the vertical-running pith on the outside because of the natural tendency of the sheet to curve in that direction; inscriptions and illustrations on a papyrus roll are generally on the horizontal side of the sheet, where they would be protected when rolled up (25.3.31).
Upvote:0
There is also the fact that papyrus books were written on scrolls. You can't really write a continuous text on both sides of the scroll.
Upvote:8
... the difference between the two sides of the sheet ... stems from the strips being at right angles to each other. The recto side, on which the strips run horizontally, was the side generally preferred for writing, while the verso, which had vertical strips, was less frequently used. - Etherington & Roberts, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology
Upvote:9
Several reasons added up to prefering the recto side:
As long as the roll was the preferred form for books (yes, you can fold papyrus and yes, it was done quite a lot when using it for codices, 2./3. century AD): You had to choose one side because the form of the medium(*) made it highly impractible to use both sides for one text. The scripture was done on the inside, for better protection from external forces. Papyrus tends to roll itself this way (recto on the inside), so not "counter-roling" it seems a good idea. So, recto is your choice.
Plus, the already mentioned stripes of papyrus fibre running horizontally would help the scribe to stay "in line", write a straight line and it is supposed to be easier to write on this side then the other, less scratchy.
Of course, there are many examples for the use of both sides, mostly secondary use and notes (just as one would write on the backside of a letter today), but I do not know of an example where only the verso was used.
(*) The form of the medium "bookroll" demands scripture in columns which are placed next to each other (running down all the way the short side of the roll),
The reading practice was to unwind the next column on the right while winding the already read part up on the left. Doing so, the reader always had several columns in view.
(Will provide sources later.)
More post
- 📝 Who was the last Egyptian pharaoh to be worshipped as a 'deity' or seen as something 'divine' whether in potential or actuality?
- 📝 How objective are books like "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind"? How are they "proven"?
- 📝 Did Perry's Black Ships attack Edo harbour during his expedition to Japan?
- 📝 Does Amnesty International maintain a list of prisoners of conscience?
- 📝 Study of causal structures and dynamics in history?
- 📝 How did the Boston Tea Party protest affect the British?
- 📝 Which groups of people were awake at night in antiquity?
- 📝 Who is the "celebrated author" of this quote?
- 📝 At what point after the war did Confederate money begin to attain value again?
- 📝 Who is the man in the red jacket in this painting?
- 📝 Are Amazighs the inventors of the so called Arabic numerals?
- 📝 Has there ever been a direct clash between NATO and Russia?
- 📝 What did the administrators of secularized California missions do?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this possibly Czechoslovak uniform?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 Did Reza Shah Pehlavi know about Turkish offer to restore Ahmad Shah Qajar?
- 📝 Why did Yamamoto reprimand Nagumo after Pearl Harbor?
- 📝 Effect of propaganda during the American War of Independence
- 📝 How did silk manufacturing become a major industry in medieval Europe?
- 📝 How did member states of the Holy Roman Empire justify only including part of their land inside it?
- 📝 Are there any theories of Tiglath Pileser III's origins?
- 📝 Who invented the first flag?
- 📝 What evidence do we have to claim the Ancient Romans kept African grey parrots as pets?
- 📝 Why was Lakhdar Boumediene, in the Boumediene v Bush case, acquitted of his charges? And, why was the habeas corpus not suspended?
- 📝 What evidence is there for inventions by slaves or former slaves in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 What was the real name of Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez?
- 📝 How easy one could start an artel in USSR after WW2 1945-1956?
- 📝 Why did Union troops like General McClellan?
- 📝 Were there many instances when an "overaged" commander was at odds with a much younger second in command?
- 📝 When the national leader is a foreigner
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 What was the ratio of German to Soviet losses on Eastern front during different stages of the war?
- 📝 What was the first documented mention of American English different from British English?
- 📝 What was Wilhelm II's "book about the causes of the war"?
- 📝 Considering what was known about Hitler in 1933, why would German bishops declare that Catholics could cooperate with the new State?
- 📝 What was so technologically advanced about the snorkel?
- 📝 What was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?
- 📝 What was said about Vermont in the Paris negotiations of 1782?
- 📝 What was the official policy of British administration about the integration of Indian Princely States in 1947?
- 📝 What was the first recorded reference to the fact that the sun rises and sets at different times across the Earth?
- 📝 What was the Soviet reaction to the revelations about secret US programs like Projects ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA, MOCKINGBIRD, etc., revealed in the 1970s?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 Was there ever a treaty between 2 entities with significantly different translations to the detriment of one party?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
- 📝 What was the pound (unit of weight) initially equal to?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the point of horse armour?
