Scroll

ancient writing · history · reading

What scrolls are. A scroll is a long sheet of material like papyrus or parchment that's rolled up tightly, kind of like a sleeping bag made of paper. You unroll it as you read from one end to the other.

How ancient people used them. Thousands of years ago, people in Egypt, Greece, and Rome wrote everything on scrolls instead of books. Kings kept important laws on scrolls, and scholars stored whole libraries of them.

Reading a scroll. Instead of turning pages like in a book, you'd unroll a scroll with one hand while rolling it up with the other, slowly revealing the writing as you read.

Making scrolls. The oldest scrolls were made from papyrus, a plant that grew by the Nile River in Egypt. People pressed layers of the plant flat to create a writing surface that could roll up without breaking.

Why we stopped using them. When books and pages became popular in the Middle Ages, scrolls became less common because books were easier to carry around and find information in.