Initially papyrus scrolls were used to record religious texts and other important informa-tion, although it was not uncommon for more mundane subjects like the sale of a donkey to be duly recorded.Around A.D. 500 the codex, a primitive form of book made of smaller individual sheets of papyrus ( and later parchment) became common . This might have happened for several reasons. The codex was not only more economical and convenient to use but also took less space to store.