Editing Papyrus (section)

== Documents written on papyrus ==
[[File:Papyrus bill of sale donkey.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Bill of sale for a donkey in [[Koine Greek|Greek]], 126 AD; papyrus; 19.3 by 7.2&nbsp;cm, MS Gr SM2223, Houghton Library, Harvard University]]

The word for the material papyrus is also used to designate documents written on sheets of it, often rolled up into scrolls. The plural for such documents is papyri. Historical papyri are given identifying names – generally the name of the discoverer, first owner, or institution where they are kept – and numbered, such as "[[Papyrus Harris I]]". Often an abbreviated form is used, such as "pHarris I". These documents provide important information on ancient writings; they give us the only extant copy of [[Menander]], the Egyptian [[Book of the Dead]], Egyptian treatises on medicine (the [[Ebers Papyrus]]) and on surgery (the [[Edwin Smith papyrus]]), Egyptian mathematical treatises (the [[Rhind papyrus]]), and Egyptian folk tales (the [[Westcar Papyrus]]). When, in the 18th century, a library of ancient papyri was found in [[Herculaneum]], ripples of expectation spread among the learned men of the time. However, since these papyri were badly charred, their unscrolling and deciphering are still going on today.