History of Parchment - Vellum

The construction and refinement of the parchment, which was called "difthera", foil, skin  took place in the 2nd century BC in the rich city of Pergamon in Asia Minor. Parchment derives its name from Pergamon (via the Latin pergamenum and the French parchemin) which was the center of its production and marketing. According to the testimony of Pliny (XIII 11), during the reign of Eumenes II Pergamon wanted to create a library and thus promoted the production of parchment, because the Egyptians refused to supply papyrus fearing that the library of Pergamon would overshadow the reputation that Library of Alexandria had.

Vellum (parchment) in comparison to papyrus was more durable, absorbed the ink, could be written on both sides, not torn, and it antagonized the papyrus and restricted its use exclusively only in Egypt which was the place of production.

It's use has been highly flourished from the 4th century onwards, since it was the only formal writing material for books, maps, and even the imperial Byzantine documents.

Today it's use is due to the resistance of the material in time (at various museums there are parchments many centuries old) and  the uniqueness of each piece (as the copy production is excluded). For these reasons, parchment is used in official documents of great value to the holder, as some of are degrees, diplomas, awards, etc.

In Greece we are the only manufacturers - producers of the Authentic Parchment using as raw material sheep-goat skins from our region, that come from animals which already have been slaughtered for their meat.