3. When was the Bibliotheca Ulpia founded?
Paper was manufactured in Ancient Egypt from pressed and glued leaves of the papyrus tree. The oldest literary Latin was written on this paper with the use of quill and ink. In Ancient Rome, parchment made from dried animal skin soon superseded Egyptian papyrus as that used for books and important documents, known as vellum. Use of vellum for important documentation continued well past the end of the Roman empire, such as for the Magna Carta, a royal charter of rights, written in Latin, agreed to by King John of England on 1215. In Ancient Rome, typically, literary works were written on rolls of parchment that was slowly unwound as it was read. Much of the text was written without punctuation, and some manuscripts contained ink drawings, often illustrating the portraits of famous men. It was possible for anyone to publish a manuscript if they were able to hire people to make and sell copies. Wealthy publishers typically hired clerks to copy any book they wished for them, and were paid in food rather than currency. This meant that books were cheap. Booksellers bought books wholesale from publishers and sold them at bookstalls. A book’s author rarely received payment nor any royalties. Accumulation of great collections of books and documents were kept in private or public libraries. The first public library in Rome was founded by Asinius Pollio around 40 B.C.E, and had different wings for Greek and for Latin. Later, at 114 C.E., the Roman Emperor Trajan founded the Bibliotheca Ulpia library that became the major library in the Western World after the Library at Alexandria was destroyed.