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Scroll
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A scroll (from the Old French escroe or escroue), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.[1]
Structure
[edit]
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus or parchment glued together at the edges. Scrolls may be marked divisions of a continuous roll of writing material. The scroll is usually unrolled so that one page is exposed at a time, for writing or reading, with the remaining pages rolled and stowed to the left and right of the visible page. Text is written in lines from the top to the bottom of the page. Depending on the language, the letters may be written left to right, right to left, or alternating in direction (boustrophedon).
History
[edit]
Roman portraiture frescos from Pompeii, 1st century AD, depicting two different men wearing laurel wreaths, one holding the rotulus, the other a volumen
Scrolls were the first form of editable record keeping texts, used in Eastern Mediterranean ancient Egyptian civilizations. Parchment scrolls were used by the Israelites among others before the codex or bound book with parchment pages was invented by the Romans, which became popular around the 1st century AD.[2] Scrolls were more highly regarded than codices until well into Roman times.
The ink used in writing scrolls had to adhere to a surface that was rolled and unrolled, so special inks were developed. Even so, ink would slowly flake off scrolls.
Rolls
[edit]
Shorter pieces of parchment or paper are called rolls or rotuli, although usage of the term by modern historians varies with periods. Historians of the classical period tend to use roll instead of scroll. Rolls may still be many meters or feet long, and were used in the medieval and Early Modern period in Europe and various West Asian cultures for administrative manuscript documents intended for various uses, including accounting, rent-rolls, legal agreements, and inventories. A distinction that sometimes applies is that the lines of writing in rotuli run across the width of the roll (that is to say, are parallel with any unrolled portion) rather than along the length, divided into page-like sections. Rolls may be wider than most scrolls, up to perhaps 60 cm or two feet wide. Rolls were often stored together in a special cupboard on shelves.
Chinese "whirlwind book"
[edit]A special Chinese form of short book, called the "whirlwind book", consists of several pieces of paper bound at the top with bamboo and then rolled up.[3]
Scotland
[edit]In Scotland, the term scrow was used from about the 13th to the 17th centuries for scroll, writing, or documents in list or schedule form. There existed an office of Clerk of the Scrow (Rotulorum Clericus) meaning the Clerk of the Rolls or Clerk of the Register.[4]
Replacement by the codex
[edit]The codex form of the book—that is, folding a scroll into pages, which made reading and handling the document much easier—appears during the Roman period. Stemming from a passage in Suetonius' Divus Julius (56.6), legend has it that Julius Caesar was the first to fold scrolls, concertina-fashion, for dispatches to his forces campaigning in Gaul. But the precise meaning of the passage is by no means clear. As C. H. Roberts and T. C. Skeat point out, the idea that "Julius Caesar may have been the inventor of the codex... is indeed a fascinating proposition; but in view of the uncertainties surrounding the passage, it is doubtful whether any such conclusion can be drawn".[5] What the evidence of surviving early codices does make clear is that Christians were among the earliest to make widespread use of the codex. Several Christian papyrus codices known to us date from the second century, including at least one generally accepted as being no later than A.D. 150. "All in all, it is impossible to believe that the Christian adoption of the codex can have taken place any later than circa A.D. 100 (it may, of course, have been earlier)".[6] There were certainly practical reasons for the change. Scrolls were awkward to read if a reader wished to consult material at opposite ends of the document. Further, scrolls were written only on one side, while both sides of the codex page were used.
Eventually, the folds were cut into sheets, or "leaves", and bound together along one edge. The bound pages were protected by stiff covers, usually of wood enclosed with leather. Codex is Latin for a "block of wood": the Latin liber, the root of "library", and the German Buch, the source of "book", both refer to wood. The codex was not only easier to handle than the scroll, but it also fit conveniently on library shelves. The spine generally held the book's title, facing out, affording easier organization of the collection. The surface on which the ink was applied was kept flat, not subjected to weakening by the repeated bending and unbending that scrolls undergo as they are alternately rolled up for storage and unrolled for reading, which creates physical stresses in both the papyrus and the ink of scrolls.
The term codex technically refers only to manuscript books — those that, at one time, were handwritten. More specifically, a codex is the term used primarily for a bound manuscript from Roman times up through the Middle Ages.
From the fourth century on, the codex became the standard format for books, and scrolls were no longer generally used. After the contents of a parchment scroll were copied in codex format, the scroll was seldom preserved. The majority that did survive were found by archaeologists in burial pits and in the buried trash of forgotten communities.[7]
Modern technology
[edit]
Virtual unfolding is a non-destructive method of unrolling and reading damaged or fragile scrolls. Unlike using physical unrolling which often destroys such scrolls, virtual unrolling starts with a 3D X-ray scan in a tomograph, which is later programmatically unrolled. The unrolled image then can be studied in detail and processed using machine learning methods. Virtual unrolling was used for the burned En-Gedi Scroll from Israel, for water-damaged Bressingham and burned Diss Heywood scrolls from England, for the Herculaneum papyri burned during the Pompeii volcano eruption, for a Mongolian Buddhist scroll, found inside a statue, for a metal scroll amulted from Jordan, unopen letters from Europe, and for bamboo scrolls from China.
In popular culture
[edit]- Many role-playing games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) feature scrolls as magical items, which cast spells when they are read aloud. Typically, the scroll is consumed in the process.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Beal, Peter (2008). ""scroll" in A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology 1450–2000". Online edition. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
- ^ Andrews, Evan (20 November 2012). "10 Innovations That Built Ancient Rome". History. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ Chinnery, Colin; Yi, Li. "Bookbinding". IDP Education. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
- ^ Beal, 2008, "scrow".
- ^ Roberts, C.H.; Skeat, T.C. (1987). The Birth of the Codex. London: The British Academy. p. 19. ISBN 0-19-726061-6.
- ^ Roberts, C. H.; Skeat, T. C. (1987). The Birth of the Codex. London: The British Academy. p. 61.
- ^ Murray, Stuart A.P. (2009) The Library: An Illustrated History. Chicago, IL. Skyhorse Publishing. (p.27)
External links
[edit]
Look up scroll in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to scrolls.
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Scroll
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
A scroll (from the Old French escroe or escroue), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.[1] It was the predominant form of document in ancient literate cultures, particularly in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where texts were inscribed in columns and read by progressively unrolling the roll.[2] Scrolls served as the primary medium for recording literature, legal documents, religious texts, and administrative records from around 3000 BCE until the widespread adoption of the codex in the early centuries CE.[3]
The history of scrolls dates back to ancient Egypt, where papyrus rolls were produced by gluing sheets together from the pith of the papyrus plant.[1] Parchment scrolls, made from treated animal skins, became common in the Mediterranean and Near East by the 2nd century BCE, offering greater durability.[2] In Jewish and Christian traditions, scrolls held sacred texts like the Torah and early biblical manuscripts, while in East Asia, silk or paper scrolls developed independently for artistic and literary purposes.[3] Despite the shift to the codex for its convenience in random access, scrolls persisted in ceremonial and artistic uses into the medieval period and beyond.[4]
Definition and Physical Characteristics
Definition
A scroll is a roll consisting of papyrus, parchment, leather, or paper, serving as a medium for writing or painting on its surface.[5][6] It is designed to be unrolled sequentially from one end to the other for reading or viewing, facilitating access to content in a linear fashion.[7] Key characteristics of a scroll include its continuous format, where text or images flow without division into distinct pages, distinguishing it from later formats like the codex, which uses bound sheets for easier random access to specific sections.[8] Scrolls also differ from the rotulus, a shorter or narrower roll often oriented vertically with text parallel to the shorter edge, whereas standard scrolls (or volumina) are typically horizontal with text running along the length.[9] Orientation can vary by tradition: Chinese scrolls are frequently vertical, especially in hanging formats, while Western scrolls are generally horizontal.[10][11] The term "scroll" derives from Middle English scrowle, an alteration of Anglo-French escroe or escroue (a strip of parchment), influenced by rolle (roll); this traces back to a Germanic root meaning "cut" or "piece," evoking the idea of a cut strip of material rolled up.[12][13]Materials and Construction
Scrolls have been constructed from a variety of materials depending on the region and era, with papyrus serving as the primary medium in ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world. Papyrus was derived from the pith of the Cyperus papyrus plant, a tall aquatic reed native to the Nile Delta; the stems were cut lengthwise into thin strips, arranged in overlapping horizontal and vertical layers, moistened, and pressed to form cohesive sheets through natural adhesion and drying. These individual sheets, typically measuring around 20-25 cm in height and 15-30 cm in length, were then glued edge-to-edge using a starch-based adhesive derived from the plant itself or wheat to create a continuous roll. Parchment and vellum emerged as alternatives in the Near East and Europe from the 2nd century BCE, made from animal skins such as those of calves, sheep, or goats; the hides were first soaked in a lime solution to loosen and remove hair and flesh, then scraped with knives to thin them, stretched on frames, and dried under tension to produce a smooth, durable surface, with vellum denoting the finer quality from untanned calfskin. In East Asia, particularly China, silk was a prestigious material for scrolls from at least the Warring States period (475-221 BCE), woven into lightweight fabrics like plain tabby or gauze from silkworm cocoons and used either plain or backed with paper for added strength. Later, from the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 CE), paper supplanted silk for many scrolls, produced by pulping plant fibers such as mulberry bark, hemp, or rags, forming a thin sheet on a mold, and pressing and drying it; this material allowed for longer, more economical rolls compared to silk. Construction techniques varied by material: papyrus sheets were pasted together into strips 20-30 cm wide and up to 10-30 meters long for extended texts, while parchment sheets were often sewn along the edges with leather thongs or flax threads to form similar rolls. Silk and paper scrolls in China were typically joined by pasting or sewing panels, with silk handscrolls often featuring embroidered or painted borders for reinforcement. To facilitate rolling and handling, scrolls were fitted with wooden rods known as umbilici in the Greco-Roman tradition, carved from materials like ivory, bone, or hardwood and attached to the ends of the roll, sometimes engraved or wrapped in leather for grip; these rods, usually 20-30 cm long to match the scroll's width, allowed the document to be unrolled sequentially from one side. Edge treatments included trimming with knives to create straight margins and occasional application of wax or resin to seal frayed fibers, preventing damage during repeated use. In Chinese constructions, similar wooden rollers (zhougan) of bamboo, wood, or ivory were inserted into silk or paper tubes at the ends, often adorned with jade or metal fittings for ceremonial scrolls. Prior to writing, scrolls underwent preparation to ensure ink adhesion and surface smoothness. Papyrus and paper were sized by brushing or immersing them in a solution of starch from wheat or rice, or gum arabic from acacia trees, which formed a thin, absorbent coating that prevented ink from bleeding while allowing even application; parchment was typically rubbed with pumice stone or chalk dust and sometimes lightly oiled for a similar effect. Early Greek scrolls occasionally employed boustrophedon writing directionality, where lines alternated from left-to-right and right-to-left to mimic the flow of unrolling, though this practice largely gave way to consistent left-to-right script by the 5th century BCE.Historical Development
Ancient Origins
The earliest precursors to the scroll appeared in Mesopotamia before 3000 BCE, where writing emerged on clay tablets impressed with cuneiform script using reed styluses, primarily for economic and administrative records.[14] These durable but bulky tablets laid the foundation for portable documentation, evolving alongside early experiments with other media in the Near East, though true scrolls developed distinctly in Egypt.[15] In Egypt, around 3000 BCE during the Early Dynastic Period, papyrus rolls revolutionized record-keeping, enabling scribes to document administrative, legal, and economic matters on lightweight, rollable sheets derived from the pith of the Cyperus papyrus plant.[16] The oldest surviving example, a fragmentary roll from Saqqara dated to circa 2900 BCE, attests to this innovation's immediate application in bureaucratic contexts, such as accounting and correspondence.[17] During the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BCE), key advancements standardized the papyrus scroll's construction and use, with multiple sheets glued end-to-end to form rolls up to 10 meters long, inscribed in columns using hieratic script and carbon-based inks.[18] This format facilitated efficient storage and consultation of texts, including early administrative papyri and nascent funerary compositions that foreshadowed later works like the Book of the Dead, though such spells were more commonly carved on tomb walls at this stage.[19] By 1500 BCE, Egyptian papyrus technology and writing practices influenced neighboring regions through trade, reaching Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece, where administrative recording adapted similar principles—albeit primarily on clay tablets with Linear A and B scripts—reflecting broader cultural exchanges in the Aegean. Early scroll users encountered challenges with material longevity, particularly ink durability; carbon-based inks, composed of soot bound with gum arabic, resisted fading but could bleed or smudge on papyrus in humid conditions if the binder dissolved over time.[20] To mitigate humidity and physical damage, scrolls were stored in sealed wooden boxes or pottery jars, as evidenced by Old Kingdom artifacts like the Hemaka box (c. 2900 BCE) from Saqqara, which contained administrative papyri, and the Gebelein box (c. 2450 BCE).[21] These protective measures ensured many rolls survived in arid tomb environments for millennia.[19]Classical and Medieval Uses
In the Greco-Roman era, spanning approximately 800 BCE to 500 CE, scrolls served as the dominant medium for preserving and disseminating literature, philosophical treatises, and legal documents. Epic poems such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were recorded on papyrus scrolls, with each of the 24 books of these works typically occupying a single scroll to facilitate reading and storage. Philosophical texts, including works by Epicurean and Stoic thinkers, were similarly inscribed, as evidenced by the carbonized scrolls recovered from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, which contain fragments of philosophical writings from the first century BCE. Legal codes and orations, such as those by Cicero, were also formatted on scrolls, enabling their use in courts and rhetorical education across the Roman Empire.[22][23][22] Major libraries exemplified the scale of scroll usage during this period. The Library of Alexandria, established under Ptolemaic rule in the third century BCE, housed an estimated 40,000 to 400,000 scrolls at its height, encompassing Greek literature, scientific treatises, and historical accounts that scholars actively copied and expanded. A single scroll generally held the content of one book or literary work, with typical lengths ranging from 20 to 35 feet (about 6 to 10 meters), allowing for approximately 20 to 30 columns of text written in a continuous script without word breaks. This format supported the production of multi-volume sets for longer works, such as Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, where each of the eight books required its own scroll.[24][22] Several innovations enhanced the functionality and preservation of scrolls in the classical world. Scribes often added colophons—notes at the end of the text recording the copyist's name, completion date, or authorship details—to authenticate and date works, a practice rooted in earlier Mesopotamian traditions but adapted in Greek and Roman contexts for scholarly verification. For protection during transport, Romans employed the capsa, a cylindrical leather or wooden case that held multiple scrolls upright, secured with straps for portability by scholars or officials. Over time, scrolls evolved toward narrower widths, averaging about three inches (7.5 cm) for columns, which improved handling and reduced material costs, making them more suitable for travel among itinerant philosophers and administrators.[25][22] During the medieval period (500–1500 CE), scrolls persisted and adapted in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, where they facilitated the copying and transmission of classical Greek texts. In Byzantium, scribes continued to produce scrolls for select literary and historical works, as seen in the tenth-century Joshua Roll, an illuminated parchment scroll depicting scenes from the Book of Joshua in a continuous narrative style reminiscent of classical formats. Islamic scholars in centers like Baghdad and Cordoba actively copied and translated Greek classics—such as Aristotle's philosophical treatises—onto scrolls during the eighth to tenth centuries, integrating them into the House of Wisdom's collections before the codex became predominant. In European monastic scriptoria, such as those at Monte Cassino and St. Gall, monks created illuminated scrolls for administrative records and occasional literary copies, adorning them with gold leaf and colored inks to highlight key passages from preserved classical authors like Virgil. These efforts ensured the survival of Greco-Roman knowledge amid cultural shifts, with scrolls often employing glued papyrus sheets for durability in humid climates.[26][27][28]Regional and Specialized Forms
In medieval Europe, administrative rolls known as rotuli represented a specialized adaptation of the scroll form, consisting of shorter, vertical sheets of parchment sewn together end-to-end for practical use in legal and bureaucratic contexts. These rolls were typically narrower and more compact than literary scrolls, facilitating storage and reference in administrative settings. A prominent example is the English plea rolls of the Court of Common Pleas, which commenced at the beginning of the reign of Edward I (from 1273) and extended through the 19th century, documenting court proceedings, writs, and judgments in a continuous roll format that could span multiple terms.[29] In Scotland, the variant term "scrow" denoted similar rolled legal documents or schedules from the 13th to 17th centuries, often used for official writs and registers; this terminology reflected in roles such as the Clerk of the Scrow (Rotulorum Clericus), an official tasked with overseeing the maintenance and authentication of these records.[30] East Asian scroll traditions featured distinctive regional innovations tailored to cultural and functional needs. During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), Chinese "whirlwind books" emerged as short, accordion-folded rolls bound with bamboo strips, allowing pages to fan out like windblown leaves for quick consultation; this binding style, also called dragon scale or whirlwind binding, prioritized portability and reference utility over extended narrative reading.[31] In Japan, from the 12th century onward during the Kamakura period (1185–1333), emakimono or illustrated handscrolls became a refined art form, comprising long horizontal rolls of silk or paper (often up to 40 feet in length) that integrated narrative text with vivid paintings to depict tales of history, romance, or Buddhist themes; these were unrolled sequentially in sections for private viewing, commissioned by nobility or temples.[32] Beyond Europe and East Asia, other specialized scroll variants highlighted diverse material and functional adaptations. Similarly, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican societies, particularly the Maya, employed bark paper codices—crafted from the inner bark of fig trees (Ficus species) beaten into sheets and folded into screenfolds before 1500 CE; these codices recorded astronomical, ritual, and historical data in hieroglyphic script, reflecting the region's emphasis on durable, locally sourced materials for knowledge preservation.[33]Cultural and Religious Significance
In Judaism and Christianity
In Judaism, the Sefer Torah, or Torah scroll, serves as the holiest physical representation of the Five Books of Moses and is meticulously hand-copied by a qualified scribe known as a sofer on sheets of parchment derived exclusively from kosher animals, such as calves or sheep, to ensure ritual purity.[34][35] The process adheres to strict halakhic guidelines, with the text written in black ink using a quill on specially prepared gevil or klaf parchment, sewn together with gut from kosher animals, forming a continuous roll stored in an ornate ark within the synagogue.[36] These scrolls embody the covenantal tradition, remaining unchanged in form since antiquity to preserve the sanctity of the divine word. Torah scrolls are handled with profound reverence during synagogue services, never touched directly by bare hands to avoid ritual impurity, and instead followed with a silver or wooden pointer called a yad to trace the text aloud.[37] The annual reading cycle, known as the parashah system, divides the Torah into 54 portions read weekly on Shabbat, culminating in the festival of Simchat Torah, which reinforces communal engagement with the text year after year.[38] Ancient exemplars include the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of over 900 Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period, dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, discovered in 1947 near Qumran in the Judean Desert, which contain biblical texts and sectarian writings that illuminate early Jewish scriptural practices.[39] In early Islam, scrolls were used to record and transmit the Quran, the holy scripture revealed to Prophet Muhammad between 610 and 632 CE. Parchment scrolls, known as suhuf, contained portions of the text compiled during the Prophet's lifetime and under the first caliphs. For instance, the scrolls of Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud preserved early recitations. By the mid-7th century, under Caliph Uthman, the Quran was standardized in codex form, but scroll fragments from the late 7th century, such as those from the Sana'a manuscripts, demonstrate the transitional use of rolls in Islamic scriptural tradition.[27] These early scrolls highlight Islam's role in preserving divine revelation through written media amid the shift from oral to bound formats. Early Christianity adopted scrolls for the Old Testament, frequently using the Greek Septuagint translation, which was disseminated on rolls in Hellenistic Jewish communities and carried over into Christian worship.[40] By the 2nd century CE, however, Christians increasingly favored the codex format—pages bound like a modern book—for New Testament writings, as evidenced by the earliest surviving fragment, the Rylands Papyrus P52 (ca. 125–150 CE), a codex containing part of the Gospel of John, reflecting practical advantages like portability and the ability to compile multiple texts.[40] Despite this shift, scrolls persisted in ceremonial Christian contexts, notably as illuminated Exultet rolls in medieval southern Italy, unrolled during the Easter Vigil to chant the Exsultet hymn praising Christ's resurrection and blessing the Paschal candle.[41]In Other Traditions
In Buddhist and Hindu traditions, scrolls served both devotional and instructional purposes, often integrating artistic elements with sacred texts. Tibetan thangka scrolls, emerging from the 8th century onward during the spread of Buddhism in Tibet, are painted depictions of deities, mandalas, and religious narratives on cotton or silk, designed to be unrolled for meditation and teaching.[42] These portable artworks, influenced by Indian iconography, functioned as visual aids in rituals, allowing practitioners to contemplate complex cosmological diagrams like mandalas that symbolize the universe and paths to enlightenment.[43] In Hindu contexts, Indian palm-leaf scrolls, dating back to the 1st millennium BCE, preserved Vedic texts through etching with a stylus followed by inking to highlight the incisions, creating durable records of philosophical and ritual knowledge on treated leaves of the palmyra or talipot palm.[44] These manuscripts, common in South India and Sri Lanka, were bound with cords and stored in wooden covers, emphasizing the scrolls' role in transmitting ancient scriptures like the Rigveda for scholarly recitation and ceremonial use.[45] East Asian religious practices further adapted scrolls for esoteric and protective functions. During Korea's Goryeo Dynasty (10th–14th centuries), sutra scrolls were meticulously transcribed in gold ink on indigo-dyed paper, often as acts of devotion to accumulate merit and invoke divine protection amid political turmoil, such as the Mongol invasions.[46] These luxurious rolls, featuring illuminated texts from the Lotus Sutra or Avatamsaka Sutra, were enshrined in temples or royal shrines, blending calligraphy with subtle illustrations to enhance their spiritual potency.[47] In Chinese Daoist traditions, talisman rolls—long strips of paper or silk inscribed with esoteric symbols (fu)—were unrolled during rituals to summon deities, ward off misfortune, or heal ailments, tracing their origins to Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) practices where such scripts represented heavenly writs.[48] These rolls, activated through incantations and burning in ceremonies, underscored Daoism's emphasis on harmony between human and cosmic forces.[49] Indigenous cultures outside Asia also employed bark-based manuscripts in ritual contexts. Pre-Columbian Aztec codices, crafted from amatl (fig-bark paper) coated in lime plaster, documented calendars, genealogies, and divinatory rituals, serving as guides for priests in ceremonies honoring deities like Quetzalcoatl through pictographic narratives unfolded during festivals. These screenfold codices, folded in an accordion style yet related to scroll formats, were vibrant with mineral pigments and integrated astronomical and sacrificial motifs to maintain societal and cosmic order.[50][51]Transition to the Codex
Factors Driving the Shift
The codex format provided significant practical advantages over the traditional scroll, primarily through its support for random access to content. Unlike scrolls, which required sequential unrolling to navigate text, codices allowed users to flip directly to any page, enabling faster reference, comparison of passages, and non-linear reading essential for scholarly and religious study. This feature was particularly beneficial for legal and theological texts, where cross-referencing multiple sections was common. Additionally, codices were more compact, binding multiple works or an entire collection—such as the four Gospels or Pauline epistles—into a single volume, whereas a comparable scroll could extend up to 30 meters in length. They also offered greater durability, with less vulnerability to edge wear from repeated handling compared to the rolled edges of scrolls, whose construction on papyrus or early parchment inherently limited flexibility and longevity. Production costs were lower for codices than scrolls of equivalent content, due to efficient use of materials on both sides of pages and simpler binding processes. The historical timeline of the shift began in the 1st century CE in the Roman Empire, where the codex evolved from wax tablets used for note-taking and early parchment notebooks, marking a transition from utilitarian aids to literary formats. By the late 1st century, Roman poet Martial explicitly recommended codices for their convenience in his epigrams, signaling early elite adoption among readers in Rome. Christians embraced the codex preferentially by the 2nd century CE, with approximately 92% of surviving pre-400 CE Christian papyri in this form, compared to only 5% of non-Christian texts, driven by the need for portable scriptures during evangelism and missionary work. This early Christian lead facilitated broader dissemination, as the format's advantages aligned with the growing production of sacred texts. Full dominance occurred between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, by which time codices had largely supplanted scrolls in both religious and secular contexts across the empire. Social and economic factors further propelled the transition, including the dynamics of the imperial Roman book trade, where publishers in urban centers like Rome increasingly favored codices for their ease of storage, transport, and sale to a widening audience beyond elites. The trade's emphasis on practicality accelerated production shifts, as codices reduced material waste and appealed to expanding literate classes. Compounding this, the destruction of major scroll repositories—such as the Serapeum library in Alexandria in 391 CE by Christian forces under Emperor Theodosius I—depleted stocks of classical pagan texts preserved on scrolls, diminishing their availability and reinforcing the codex as the dominant medium for new and copied works.Persistence and Legacy
Despite the widespread adoption of the codex format by the early medieval period, scrolls maintained niche applications in diplomatic and administrative contexts. For example, the Magna Carta of 1215 was issued on a long roll of parchment measuring approximately 122 mm by 635 mm, allowing for the sequential recording of its clauses in a continuous document.[52] Similarly, medieval English royal administration relied on rolls for official records, such as charter rolls and close rolls, which documented grants, treaties, and correspondence in a linear, unrolled format suitable for lengthy entries. These practices underscored the scroll's utility for documents requiring expansion or periodic addition, even as bound books became standard for literature. In artistic and ceremonial spheres, scrolls endured as vehicles for illumination and ritual. During the Renaissance, commissions included elaborate illustrated rolls, such as genealogical chronicles like the 15th-century Canterbury Roll, which depicted royal lineages in panoramic, sequential imagery to convey historical continuity. In religious settings, scrolls persisted for ceremonial purposes; Torah scrolls remained central to synagogue worship, ritually unrolled for readings, while in churches, medieval Exultet rolls—illuminated parchments used for Easter proclamations—exemplified the format's role in liturgical performance, with images designed to be viewed upside-down by the congregation.[53][54] The scroll's legacy extended into modern forms, influencing artistic innovations and practical storage. In the 19th century, moving panoramas—vast painted scrolls unrolled mechanically to depict sequential scenes, such as battles or landscapes—drew directly from the scroll's narrative unfolding, becoming a popular entertainment medium with examples like the Mississippi River panoramas exceeding 300 feet in length.[55] Volvelles, rotating paper charts evolving from medieval designs, saw 19th-century revivals in educational tools, echoing the scroll's layered revelation of information.[56] Metaphorically, the act of "unrolling history" in literature evokes the scroll's progressive disclosure, as seen in analyses of medieval political culture where rolls symbolized the linear progression of dynastic narratives.[57] Revivals in the 19th and 20th centuries highlighted the scroll's enduring practicality. Legal rolls in British manorial courts, recording land tenures and disputes, continued until the mid-20th century, with some rolls extending to 1954. For archival purposes, oversized maps and blueprints were routinely stored rolled in tubes to prevent creasing, a method standardized in conservation practices by the 20th century to preserve large-format documents.[58] These uses affirmed the scroll's incomplete obsolescence, bridging ancient traditions with contemporary needs.Modern Technology and Applications
Archaeological and Digital Recovery
Modern efforts to recover ancient scrolls emphasize non-invasive techniques to access content without physical damage to fragile artifacts. X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning enables virtual unrolling by generating detailed 3D images of the scroll's internal structure, allowing researchers to digitally flatten layers and reveal hidden text. This method has been pivotal for the carbonized Herculaneum papyri, recovered from the Villa of the Papyri buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, through initiatives like the Vesuvius Challenge launched in 2023, which combines CT data with machine learning for text extraction.[59][60] Synchrotron imaging complements CT by providing high-resolution X-ray phase-contrast scans that detect subtle differences in material density, particularly for identifying ink on papyrus. Unlike conventional X-rays, synchrotron sources produce intense, tunable beams that enhance visibility of carbon-based or metallic inks without unrolling the scroll, addressing challenges where traditional inks blend with the substrate. This technique has been applied to Herculaneum scrolls to map ink distribution and trace ancient writing practices, such as the use of lead- or copper-based inks in Greco-Roman texts.[61][62] A landmark application occurred in 2016 with the En-Gedi Scroll, a carbonized Hebrew manuscript from the 3rd or 4th century CE discovered near the Dead Sea, where CT scanning and volume rendering software virtually unwrapped the artifact to reveal portions of the Book of Leviticus—the first biblical text recovered from this site without physical intervention. Similarly, the Vesuvius Challenge achieved breakthroughs in 2024, when AI models trained on ink detection segmented and transcribed over 2,000 characters from an unopened Herculaneum scroll, uncovering philosophical writings attributed to the Epicurean thinker Philodemus on pleasure and music, comprising about 5% of the scroll's content. In 2025, further progress included the AI-assisted revelation of a scroll title attributed to Philodemus on vices.[63][64][65][66] Preservation of carbonized scrolls presents significant challenges due to their brittleness from exposure to extreme heat during ancient fires, which turns papyrus into a coal-like material prone to crumbling upon handling. Ethical concerns arise in balancing scientific inquiry with artifact integrity, as even minor manipulations risk irreversible loss; thus, non-invasive digital methods are prioritized to comply with international heritage standards, ensuring long-term stewardship while enabling global scholarly access.[67][23]Contemporary Designs and Uses
In contemporary digital interfaces, scroll bars have become a fundamental element of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design, particularly in web browsers. Introduced in early graphical web browsers like NCSA Mosaic in 1993, scroll bars enabled users to navigate content longer than the viewport, mimicking the physical act of unrolling a scroll.[68] This feature was refined and popularized by Netscape Navigator in 1994, establishing vertical and horizontal scroll bars as standard for handling overflow text and images in HTML documents.[69] A more immersive evolution, infinite scrolling, eliminates discrete pagination by continuously loading content as users scroll, enhancing seamlessness on platforms like social media. Invented by interface designer Aza Raskin in 2006 as part of the Humanized Reader project, it was designed to reduce friction in content consumption.[70] Twitter (now X) implemented infinite scrolling in its web redesign in September 2010, allowing users to browse timelines without page reloads, which significantly boosted engagement by fostering prolonged sessions.[71] Artistic and practical revivals of scrolls persist in religious and technological contexts, blending tradition with innovation. Modern Torah scrolls are meticulously handcrafted by trained scribes (soferim) using kosher parchment from animal hides, special ink, and quill pens, following ancient rabbinic guidelines to ensure ritual purity; the process can take 1.5 to 2 years for a single scroll.[72] In digital media, panoramic photo scrolls emulate the unfolding narrative of historical scrolls through interactive interfaces, such as Google Street View, launched in 2007, where users virtually "unroll" 360-degree panoramas by panning and scrolling across global landscapes.[73] Research into flexible e-ink displays in the 2020s has revived the physical form of rolled scrolls in prototype electronics. E Ink's flexible displays, such as those using Mobius technology with plastic TFT backplanes, feature bistable, low-power electrophoretic displays that can be rolled into compact cylinders without losing functionality, targeting applications like wearable devices and portable readers. These innovations prioritize energy efficiency—drawing power only during content updates—and durability, echoing the portability of ancient scrolls while enabling modern uses in sustainable tech.[74][75] In cultural applications, scrolls appear as symbolic elements in gaming and diplomacy. In role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), introduced in 1974, spell scrolls function as consumable inventory items that allow characters to cast spells without expending spell slots, provided the spell is on their class list; activation involves reading the mystical script, after which the scroll disintegrates, adding strategic depth to resource management. Commemorative rolls, such as replicas of the United Nations Charter signed in 1945, are produced as ceremonial scrolls for diplomatic events and exhibitions, preserving the document's text on rolled parchment to evoke historical gravitas and facilitate public display.[76]References
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