The term "scroll" has found a second life in modern technology, shifting from a physical object to a digital action. The Historical Background of The Ancient Scroll
The oldest surviving scrolls are made of papyrus, a plant native to Egypt that was the dominant writing material for the Mediterranean world starting around 3000 B.C.E.. Scroll
In cultures like China and Japan, scrolls persisted longer for art, calligraphy, and religious texts like Buddhist sutras. The world's oldest dated printed book is a 16-foot-long Chinese scroll of the Diamond Sutra from 868 C.E.. Physical Structure and Layout The term "scroll" has found a second life
Scrolls can be horizontal (unrolled side-to-side) or vertical (unrolled top-to-bottom). The world's oldest dated printed book is a
Ancient horizontal scrolls were typically written in multiple columns; as a person read, they would unroll the next section with one hand while rolling up the finished section with the other.