Joseph Smith Papyri

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A portion of the Joseph Smith Papyri
A portion of the Joseph Smith Papyri

The Joseph Smith Papyri (JSP) are eleven Egyptian papyrus fragments which were once owned by Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism. Lost after Smith's death, they were rediscovered in the New York Metropolitan museum in 1966, after which they were returned to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement. The fragments are thought by some to be portions of a larger set of papyri that Joseph Smith translated into the Book of Abraham.

Contents

[edit] Origin

The papyrus fragments are parts of some papyri and eleven mummies which were discovered in Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. At that time Lebolo was working as superintendent of archaeological digs for Bernardino Drovetti. Sometime between 1822 and his death on February 19, 1830, Lebolo arranged to have them sold. The mummies were shipped to New York, where they were purchased by Michael Chandler in 1833. Over the next two years Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling some of the mummies. [1][2]

In July of 1835, Chandler brought four mummies and associated papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then headquarters of the Latter-Day Saints. Although the Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799, the ability to read Egyptian wasn't well developed until the 1850s. Chandler asked Joseph Smith to look at the scrolls and give some insight into what was written on them, due to Smith's notoriety and claim to have translated the golden plates of the Book of Mormon.

Shortly after examining the scrolls Smith, Joseph Coe and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2400[3]

After Joseph Smith's death, the mummies and papyri were in the possession of Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith and after her death on May 14, 1856, Smith's widow, Emma Hale Smith. On May 25, 1856, Emma sold "four Egyptian mummies with the records with them" to Mr. Abel Combs.[4] Combs then sold two mummies with some papyri, which were sent to the St. Louis Museum.[citation needed] In 1863 they went to the Chicago Museum, where they probably burned in the Great Chicago Fire.[citation needed] The fate of Combs's two other mummies is unknown, but some papyri survived. In 1918, Mrs. Alice Heusser, daughter of Combs's housekeeper, approached the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) about some papyri in her possession.[citation needed] In 1947 the MMA acquired them from Alice's widower. Aziz S. Atiya of the University of Utah found ten fragments of the remaining papyri in May 1966,[5] after he recognized the vignette was similar to Facsmile 1 in the Pearl of Great Price. Henry G. Fischer, curator of the Egyptian Collection at the MMA, stated that an anonymous donation to the MMA made it possible for the LDS church to acquire the papyri.[6] The LDS Church published sepia tone photographs of the papyri in the February 1968 issue of The Improvement Era.

Egyptologist John A. Wilson stated that the recovered fragments indicate the existence of at least six to eight separate documents.[7] Another scholar estimated that the fragments constitute roughly one-third of Joseph Smith's original collection of papyri.[8] Scholars conclude that the recovered papyri are portions of the originals partly based on the fact that the fragments were pasted onto paper which had "drawings of a temple and maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area" on the back and were accompanied by an affidavit by Emma Smith stating that they had been in the possession of Joseph Smith.[9]

[edit] Recovered Fragments

Eleven papyrus fragments were recovered, and were designated I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, and XI in the Improvement Era article. Other designations were given by the MMA, and various Egyptologists and scholars that analyzed the fragments; however, the designations established by the Improvement Era have remained the most commonly used numbering.

The table below summarizes different designation schemes:

Joseph Smith Papyri Fragment Numbering
Improvement Era JSP # MMA # Wilson-Jeppson #s
I 47.102.9 A (photo 1)
II 47.102.10 B (photo 8)
IIIa 47.102.2 C (photo 5)
IIIb 47.102.3 C (photo 6)
IV 47.102.1 B (photo 3)
V 47.102.4 B (photo 2)
VI 47.102.7 B (photo 4)
VII 47.102.5 B (photo 7)
VIII 47.102.6 B (photo 9)
X 47.102.8 D (photo 10)
XI 47.102.11 D (photo 11)

The editors of an independent quarterly journal Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, arranged for John A. Wilson and Klaus Baer of the Oriental Institute at the Univerity of Chicago and Richard Anthony Parker, Director of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University to translate the text from the photographs.[10] Their translations were published in Dialogue in the summer and autumn of 1968.[11][12] The fragments are portions of three original documents as shown below.

[edit] The Breathing Permit belonging to the priest Hôr, son of the priest Osorwêr and the lady Tikhebyt

Klaus Baer reconstructed this document by reassembling JSP I, X-XI, and portions of JSP IV. From right to left, the papyri are sequenced JSP I(including the vignette), JSP XI (with portions of JSP IV), and JSP X (with portions of JSP IV).[13]

[edit] Dating

The handwriting was identified as being "of the late Ptolemaic or early Roman Period, about the time of Christ".[14] Jan Quaegebeur has suggested a date in the first half of the second century B.C.[15]

[edit] Translation

A portion of Klaus Baer's translation is as follows starting with JSP I and the vignette from right to left (lacunae in the manuscript are shown with an elipsis or "[?]"):

JSP I, Lines 1 - 3

"...the prophet of Amonrasontêr, prophet [?] of Mîn Bull-of-his-Mother, prophet [?] of Khons the Governor...Hôr, justified, son of the holder of the same titles, master of secrets, and purifier of the gods Osorwêr, justified [?]...Tikhebyt, justified. May your ba live among them. and may you be buried in the West..."[16]

JSP I, Line 5

"May you give him a good, splendid burial on the West of Thebes just like..."[17]

JSP I, Vignette

According to Baer, Coenen and Quaegebeur, the scene represents the resurrection of Hor (as Osiris) aided by Anubis. [18] Osiris lies on a lion couch, with Anubis, the jackal headed god standing over him. Four canopic jars are shown below the figures, which have lids representing the four sons of Horus, Imset, Hapi, Qebeh-senuwef, and Duwa-mutef. According to Baer, Osiris was "almost certainly represented as ithyphallic, ready to beget Horus", grasping his phallus.[19] Rhodes says this interpretation is unlikely because in all other conception scenes the reclining figure is nude and in this one he is wearing a kilt.

JSP XI (two columns)

"Osiris shall be conveyed into the Great Pool of Khons -- and likewise Osiris Hôr, justified, born to Tikhebyt, justified -- after his arms have been placed on his heart and the Breathing Permit (which [Isis] made and has writing on its inside and outside) has been wrapped in royal linen and placed under his left arm near his heart; the rest of his mummy-bandages should be wrapped over it. The man for whom this book has been copied will breathe forever and ever as the bas of the gods do."[20]

"Here begins the Breathing Permit, which Isis made for her brother Osiris in order to revive his ba, to revive his corpse, and to make his entire body young again, so that he might appear gloriously in heaven in the disk of the moon, and that his corpse might shine in Orion in the belly of Nut -- and in order that the same might happen to Osiris Hôr...Keep it secret! Do not let anyone read it. It is useful for a man in the Necropolis, to help him live again and it has worked successfully millions of times."[21]

Joseph Smith Papyrus XI (left) and I (right)

Joseph Smith Papyrus I

Osiris begetting a son by Isis

Joseph Smith Papyrus IV

[edit] JSP IIIa-b

Klaus Baer identified these fragments as "The Book of the Dead belonging to the musician of Amon Re Neferirnûb" (Emphasis in original)[14]

[edit] JSP II, V-IX, and most of IV

Klaus Baer identified these fragments as "The Book of the Dead belonging to the lady Tshenmîn" (Emphasis in original)[14]

Joseph Smith Papyrus II

Joseph Smith Papyrus V

Joseph Smith Papyrus VI

Joseph Smith Papyrus VII

Joseph Smith Papyrus VIII

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Rhodes 2005, pp. 1-2
  2. ^ Smith n.d., p. 236
  3. ^ Gee 2000, p. 3
  4. ^ The Improvement Era, Jan. 1968, pp. 12-16
  5. ^ Jay Todd, "Papyri, Joseph Smith”, Encyclopedia of Mormonism Vol. 3
  6. ^ "The Facsimile Found: The Recovery of Joseph Smith's Papyrus Manuscripts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1967), p. 64
  7. ^ Wilson 1968, p. 57
  8. ^ Walter Whipple, et al, From the Dust of the Decades (Salt Lake City, 1968) p. 116 - as cited by Charles M. Larson in By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus (Grand Rapids, Michigan) p. 36
  9. ^ The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, November 27, 1967
  10. ^ Wilson 1968, p. 67 and Ritner 2000, p. 97 to translate the Egyptian text on the papyri.
  11. ^ "The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 03 Number 2 (Summer 1968), pp. 67-105
  12. ^ Baer 1968, pp. 109-134
  13. ^ Baer 1968, pp. 111-116
  14. ^ a b c Baer 1968, p. 111
  15. ^ Rhodes 2005, pp. 3
  16. ^ Baer 1968, pp. 116-117
  17. ^ Baer 1968, p. 117
  18. ^ Rhodes, The Hor Book of Breathings, FARMS, 2002, pg. 19
  19. ^ Baer 1968, p. 118
  20. ^ Baer 1968, pp. 119-120
  21. ^ Baer 1968, p. 119

[edit] References