Research on Excavated Texts, Issue 4

Author: Chief Editor: Wang Shengduo et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-11-01
Features:
Fragment: Kainen also listed in the appendix of "Ancient Books" several Japanese transcriptions and translations of documents titled "Factual Notes on the Use of Books by Latin Writers." Among these, the first to be proposed was Chapters 11 and 12 of Pliny's "Natural History," Volume 13. The text describes papyrus as follows: However, before leaving Egypt, it is necessary to describe the nature of papyrus. The reason is that the use of papyrus largely depends on living culture and historical progress. Moreover, according to the research of Max Vallo, papyrus was discovered only after Alexander the Great won his eastern campaigns and established Alexandria. Before that, there was no history of the use of papyrus. People initially wrote on palm leaves and then on the bark of certain trees. Later, public documents began to be written on lead tablets, while personal correspondence relied on hemp and wax. The reason is that in the Homeric era, we can find examples of the use of writing boards before the Trojan War. (10) He also compiled records by Tibullus, Catullus, Proba, and others about "writing boards." (11) In summary, in the West, the history of books generally regards the invention of printing technology as a new era, and therefore naturally considers books before this as handwritten manuscripts, believing that the writing materials were as follows: clay tablets in Babylon and Assyria, papyrus in ancient Egypt, wax tablets in ancient Rome, parchment or vellum in ancient Greece, and bamboo, wood, and silk in China. People hardly realized the widespread use of wooden materials worldwide. In addition, there is a saying that stone was the oldest writing material for humans. However, is it appropriate to simply arrange these writing materials in a row? If writing materials are classified, they can be divided into everyday writing materials and high-end writing materials used for preservation. Papyrus, parchment, and Chinese silk are high-end materials, while stone or metal is used for permanent preservation. In fact, it is not limited to China; in Europe, the Middle East, and the Near East, the possibility of using wood as a writing material for daily use is very high. In 1973, from the 4th-century Roman ruins of Vindolanda in Britain, wooden fragments inscribed with text, mixed with leather and fiber products, were unearthed, dating from the second half of the 1st century to the early 2nd century AD. The content mostly belongs to Roman army records, with a portion of private letters. These items are known as "The Vindolanda Writing Tablets" and are housed in the British Museum. (12) Wooden tablets from the Roman era have also been unearthed in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Vindelna in Switzerland. The English word "tablet" originates from the Latin "tabula," meaning "board." (13) Roman writing tablets were typically 14 (or 14.5) cm by 12.5 cm, though there were also larger sizes, such as 18 cm by 16 cm to 27.5 cm by 23.5 cm. When two tablets were joined together, they were called a diptych (double tablet); when three were joined, they were called a triptych (three-leaved writing tablet). The tablets were coated with wax and inscribed with an iron stylus (stylus, which is the Latin "stiluso"). However, the writing tablets unearthed from Vindolanda were written on directly with ink. When two or three tablets were joined together, they formed a book. This is what is known as an ancient manuscript. The Latin word "caudex" means a book formed by writing on shaped wooden tablets. From Pompeii, there are murals depicting a girl holding an ancient manuscript; in a portrait possibly of Terentius Proculus and his wife, the husband holds a papyrus while the wife holds an ancient manuscript. (14) Additionally, the English word "book" and the German word "Buch" also derive from the word for beech tree, "beecktree" or "Buche." Nobuhiko Watanabe believes that in ancient times, beech tree boards were materials for writing text. "First, it represents the plural form of beech tree slices, which thus has the meaning of a book, and from this, the word for a single book was formed." (15) The Latin word "liber" originally meant tree bark, and the French word "lieble" also originates from this. In Egyptian official portraits, the objects held by the figures are made of papyrus or parchment, clearly showing undulating waves, proving they are not wooden fragments. However, the Egyptians also wrote on wooden fragments: hieroglyphs are carved on mummy coffins, and names are written on wooden tags attached to mummies. (16) The Indian birch is also a wooden material. The ancient Buddhist scriptures preserved in temples such as Horyu-ji and Chion-in in Japan are excellent examples. The birch is the Sanskrit word "pattra," meaning "leaf." It refers to the dried leaves of the palm tree species "Doro," cut into 7 cm wide and 45 to 60 cm long sheets, which are then used to write text with a pen or stylus. The current Tibetan and Pali Buddhist scriptures are made of paper, but their form still follows the tradition of birch bark manuscripts. The Pava Manuscripts, obtained by British cavalry captain Pawá during his exploration of Kucha in 1891, (17) are also classic texts written on birch bark, dating back to the 2nd century AD, and can be placed in the same era as the birch bark manuscripts. More than 90,000 documents found in temples around Chiang Mai in Thailand have been jointly digitized and preserved by the National Museum of Ethnology and Chiang Mai University. These documents are written in the "runner Thai" language on coconut leaves, with content including Buddhist scriptures, temple histories, royal chronicles, and legal codes, (18) indicating that even in the 16th century, birch bark still retained its practical value. The use of wood as a writing material worldwide can be easily understood if viewed from a slightly different perspective. This is because wood is a common everyday item, so it was not preserved in people's records and memories, replaced instead by valuable parchment and papyrus.
II. The Discovery and Use of Ancient Paper in China
At the beginning of this article, it was mentioned that the invention of paper made a significant contribution to the development of human culture. So how was paper discovered? This naturally requires great attention to the excavation and discovery of ancient paper. The invention of paper by Cai Lun is already a classic historical story.