General Discussion of Writing The writing of anything was not very easy in the ancient days. Many could not even read, what's more write. Therefore, to write one had to be able to read. Then, one had to know HOW to write. There were not many who could. Then, one had to have something on which to write. Also, one had to have something with which to write (pen). There had to be a way of preserving these writings. And lastly, there had to be a way of delivering the letters. John was a learned man; therefore, he could read and write, as a minimum Hebrew and Greek. Using scribes was very common in his day. John did not have an official scribe. However, if one goes to the island of Patmos and look at the cave in which tradition says John lived, there is possible evidence that the actual writing was done under John's direction by a another person, also possibly exiled. At the time of the writing, John is thought to have been in his eighties or nineties and was probably quite feeble. Therefore, he probably had help to scribe the text. The materials for writing were certainly primitive by our modern day standards. However, considering the technology of the time, documents have withstood the perils of time. People used to write on almost anything such as clay, pottery, and parchments. Clay and pottery were more used for the poor and very short writings. Parchment was better. This was a material made from the skins of animals such as sheep, goats, and calves. These skins were scraped, cured, softened, and rubbed smooth. The better quality parchment called vellum could be written onto both sides. The lower quality parchment was written only one side only. It should be understood that the Jews thought the skins and the tanners that worked with skins were impure and had to go through purification regularly. By far the most used material of the time was papyrus. This writing sheet was made from the papyrus reed plant. The making of papyrus "paper" generally follows these steps. The plant stem or trunk was cut into lengthwise strips. Those strips were soaked in water until they were flexible and sticky from natural juices. The strips looked a little like today's wicker strips. Then the strips were laid in a criss-cross, woven manner much like wicker. This was pressed, pounded, dried, smoothed. These slabs of papyrus could be stuck together as a scroll for long documents. Of interest is also the pen and ink used by the writers of the day. The pen was a reed sliced at an angle at the end, split, and smoothed. Ink was made from many materials. The most likely ink was made from lamp soot and a gum-like material. Some paints and inks were based on juices of fruit and other similar materials. Many of these inks have lasted thousands of years. Try that with anything we have today. Many of the inks have not been able to be duplicated by modern man. The most interesting thing to consider is some of these materials have been found and are readable and able to be handled AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS. Try that with OUR modern paper products! "Mailing" letters was another problem of those days. The Romans had a type of Post Office but it was for official Roman business only. Other people had to arrange for the delivery of private letters completely on their own. Usually, letters were sent by carriers such as trusted travelers or couriers.