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c. 1500, refers to a papyrus document of the reign of Odoacer (476-93). Among extant examples may be noted a Pindar volume of the late first or early second century that is patched on the back with strips of papyrus bearing writing of the third or fourth century A.D.; a Gospel manuscript of c. 200 with marginalia of c. 400; a roll that was first written on in the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211) then made into a codex and reused in the fifth century; and a document written in Paris at the end of the elev- enth century on the verso of a testament of c. 690.
From all of the above it seems fair to conclude that the papyrus produced by the ancient factories had, and retained for years and years, the following qualities; it was white (or slightly co- loured . . .) flexible, and durable, and its surface was shiny and smooth. It was not for lack of these qualities that papyrus gave way to parchment and paper, but because these other materials were better able, with the passage of time, to meet the needs and conditions of different times and places for carrying the written and eventually the printed word (Lewis, Papyrus in Classical Antiq- uity [1974], pp. 60-61). 55
B: The Transition from Oral to Written Culture in Ancient Greece
Some might argue that, without writing, the same beliefs could not have prevailed over such a long period of time, but in reality, oral traditions are far more faithfully passed on than the written word. A written account can be open to multiple interpretations, distortions, and transformations, depending on the time and sit- uation, economic imperatives, or the whims of political or reli- gious leaders. Orally transmitted traditions, in contrast, must be rigorously and accurately passed on in order to survive in all their
55 For more information on papyrus see Turner, Greek Papyri: An Introduction (1968) and Parkinson & Quirke, Papyrus (1995). See also Bertelli, “The Production and Distribution of Books in Late Antiq- uity,” in Hodges & Bowden (eds.), The Sixth Century: Production, Distribution and Demand (1998), pp. 41-60.
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