A Chysobullos Logos is the Earliest Surviving Document on Paper from the Byzantine Empire

1052

Chrysobull of Alexios III of Trebizond. Alexios III Megas Komnēnos, 5 October 1338 – 20 March 1390), or Alexius III, was Emperor of Trebizond from December 1349 until his death. The chain lines in the paper are very visible in this photograph. This chrysolbull shows Alexios III with his wife Theodora. The grant was to the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos.

The earliest surviving document written on paper in the Byzantine empire is an imperial chrysobull or Chysobullos logos dated 1052.It is preserved in the archive of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos.

Documents of this type, used to confer privileges, were written on sheets of paper that were glued together so that rolls of considerable length could be created.

Wilson, "Books and Readers in Byzantium," Byzantine Books and Bookmen (1975) 3.

Timeline Themes

Papermaking by Hand

Survival of Information / Philology