Curiously, at the time that the books of the new testament were being written there was a terrible shortage of papyrus and parchment. It was due to drought that papyrus production fell off. Only the wealthy and government officials could afford it. So how did they come about? That is where it is thought that the earliest works were mandated/fabricated by the Romans to pacify the remaining jews after the seige, and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. According to Josephus, Roman soldiers had been told that the occupants of the city were canibalistic and had swallowed jems so the deaths were pretty grizzly. 1.1 million were estimated to have been killed. There were many in the city at the time as it was at passover. The remainder were enslaved.
