A
scroll is a kind of roll of
papyrus or
paper used for writing in
ancient civilizations before the
codex or bound
book was invented, and still today in some religious contexts. A scroll is read with one roll to the left and one roll to the right, and with columns of text running from top to bottom. In some scroll-using cultures painted illustrations ran above the columns of text, either in a continuous band or broken into scenes above either a single or double-column of text.
It is also the act of sliding (to
scroll) through a presentation of contents (text, drawing or image) that doesn't fit the available display window in a
computer's graphic user interface (
GUI).
See also: parchment, paleography.