T H E P E A R L O F G R E A T P R I C E

Transcription

1 T H E P E A R L O F G R E A T P R I C E D AVID A. L EF EVR E, EDUCATION WEE K, P R OVO 2015 (**) new slide; (*) new build within the slide SECOND HOUR: ABRAHAM Our story begins tonight in INTRODUCTION (**) 1966, Dr. Aziz Atiya of the Univ. of Utah, not a member of the Church, was at the Metropolitan Museum looking for illustrations for a new book he was writing. He discovered some familiar papyri. (*) He told the museum what they were and suggested that the Met give them to the Church. (*) Hugh Nibley and others were invited to evaluate them, and determined they were real. (*) On Nov 27, 1967, the Met donated them to the Church; N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency went to New York to get them. (*) What are these papyri? How did they end up at the Met? What do they have to do with the Book of Abraham? To answer these questions, we have to first go back to the late 18th century. ANTONIO LEBOLO (**) In 1796, Napoleon conquered a part of northern Italy called Sardinia. (*) In 1798, Napoleon took thousands of troops to Egypt along with scientists, where they conquered and studied the history and culture. They did a lot of digging and exploring. (*) One thing they found was the Rosetta Stone (from 196 B.C.; show and explain three languages same text, etc.). During his rise to power, some fought him, but most cooperated. Over the next few years, Napoleon was defeated and died in exile; with his death, those who supported him were persecuted or even exiled. (**) One such supporter was Bernardino Drovetti, who saved Napoleon s brother-in-law in battle and was thus made consul of France in Egypt. (**) Another was Antonio Lebolo, of Castellamonte, a newly married young man of sixteen years when Napoleon conquered Sardinia. (*) There is no picture of Lebolo, but he did carve his name at the Ramesseum in At eighteen years old, he joined Napoleon s army but was injured and at twenty-one was sent home to Sardinia where he became a police officer. After Napoleon s death, Lebolo was exiled by the returning king in Piedmont, so he went to Egypt (*) and worked at archaeological sites for his old army buddy, Bernardino Drovetti. (**) Lebolo dug in tombs around Thebes and Luxor, especially Valley of the Nobles, from 1817 to 1822; most things he shipped to Drovetti but some he kept for himself to sell, which made him some wealth. At some point during these five years, he found eleven mummies in the Valley of the Nobles (*), but it is not known where (likely not Pit Tomb 33 it was simply the largest there so seemed possible to one scholar). 1

2 In 1822, Lebolo returned to Italy, his wife having died. He brought with him a woman from Africa and her two daughters, to whom he taught Catholicism and had them baptized. He then married the woman. Antonio Lebolo died in his home town of Castellamonte, Feb. 19, Upon his death, his family enlisted the help of Albano Oblasser to ship the mummies to New York and put them up for sale. PART 2: MICHAEL CHANDLER (**) The man that bought them was Michael Chandler. How Chandler got the mummies is unknown. He later claimed to be a relative of Lebolo, but that probably was not true. Most likely he knew someone at the shipping office in New York and arranged for someone to buy them while he took them on tour to pay back the loan and earn money for himself. Started with 11 mummies and at least 7 rolls of papyrus; almost immediately he began selling some off to help pay bills, (*) one of which is in the University of Pennsylvania s museum today. End of June, 1835, Michael Chandler arrived in Kirtland, OH, anxious to sell the last mummies. He checked into the Riggs Hotel and announced, with posters, that he was there to show four mummies and various papyri. He asked the owner of the hotel, Gideon Riggs, to send his son, John, to invite Joseph Smith and his family to a private viewing of the mummies that evening; John returned with a negative answer. Chandler sent John again, inviting Joseph Smith to a private meeting the next day. John returned to the hotel this time with a positive response; Joseph would come to the hotel at 8:00 am the next day. PART 3: JOSEPH SMITH (**) Joseph Smith did come in the morning, and left with some of the papyri, which he examined. Joseph went back to Chandler with some translations, which Chandler compared with some he had received from Charles Anthon (yes, the same one of Book of Mormon fame!). Chandler certified that Joseph s translation was genuine (though by what knowledge is unknown; neither he nor anyone else at that time in America was able to read Egyptian). Joseph also showed Chandler some of the characters from the Book of Mormon plates, demonstrating some similarities. Joseph Smith proposed to purchase just the papyri but Chandler said it was an all or nothing deal. So several Saints chipped in money $800 each from Joseph Coe and Simeon Andrews and Joseph and friends raised another $800 to purchase the four mummies and papers for $2400 on July 9, (*) Through the rest of 1835, the Prophet worked with the scrolls, moving them into his translating room in the Kirtland temple. After that, for many years, nothing was done, due to Missouri persecutions, Liberty Jail, establishing Nauvoo, etc. (**) Not until 1842 did he publish any part of the translation, hiring Reuben Hedlock, a carpenter, to make woodcuts for the pictures. (*) First installment (Abr. 1:1-2:18, Fac. 1) was published in the Times and Seasons Mar 1, This appears to be all he translated up to that time, and probably mostly from (*) Second installment (Abr. 2:19 5:21, Fac. 2) was published Mar 15, He seems to have translated this section between 1 Mar and 15 Mar. (*) Finally, Fac. 3 was published May 16, 1842, likely translated about the same date. These publications only included an estimated ¼ of what Joseph had translated, according to some, not to mention the rest of the papyri (which Oliver Cowdery said would fill volumes); the rest of the translation was never published and any translation manuscripts are lost. (**) Clearly we don t have all of the Book of Abraham. The story in the PoGP ends right in the middle of an idea, leaving us hanging. Two quotes also help us realize there is more. 2

3 o o First, Joseph Smith wrote, Elder McLellen Elder B. Young and Elder J Carter called and paid me a visit, with which I was much gra=tified. I exhibited and explaind the Egy=ptian Records to them, and explained many things to them concerning the dealings of God with the ancients and the formation of the planetary System, they seemed much pleased with the interview (Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 105). Second, a member of the Church in Nauvoo reported, Joseph... said to us, Sit down and we will read to you from the translations of the book of Abraham. Oliver Cowdery then read until he was tired when Thomas Marsh read making altogether about two hours (italics added; Anson Call, Manuscript Journal, cited in Gee review). PART 4: AFTER JOSEPH SMITH (**) During the Nauvoo period, Joseph Smith gave the mummies and papyri to his mother for safekeeping and to provide her with some small income (she would charge people 25 cents to see them). Because they were already starting to fall apart, the papyrus fragments were glued on stiff paper and some put between clear glass. Upon mother Smith s death in May 1856, Emma Smith with her husband Lewis Bidamon and son Joseph Smith III took ownership of them but quickly sold them to Abel Combs on 26 May Abel Combs split the papyri and mummies up, selling two mummies and some papyri to the St. Louis museum in 1857, who sold them to the Chicago Museum, later called the Wood Museum, where it appears they burned up in the great fire of 1871 that destroyed 2/3 of the city. Some fragments were given to Charlotte Weaver Huntsman, Combs nurse/servant. Her daughter, Alice Heusser, tried to sell them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1918, but nothing happened. After her death, her husband, Edward, agreed to the sale (1947). After Dr. Aziz Atiya discovered the fragments (or perhaps the museum alerted him to the fragments, hoping he could help get them back to the Church), the Metropolitan agreed to donate them to the Church; on Nov 27, 1967, N. Eldon Tanner went to New York to receive them. There are perhaps other papyri whose location today is unknown. These could well include the ones Joseph Smith used for the Book of Abraham. PART 5: THE JOSEPH SMITH PAPYRI (**) Note the scrolls we know Joseph had, based on surviving fragments and one partial copy. All scrolls are from the Greco-Roman period of Egyptian history, approx BC. They can be reliably dated from the names of the owners of the scrolls who were known priests and rulers in Thebes. Scroll of Hor Smallest and most complete, though badly damaged. Book of Breathings Made by Isis text, the oldest of 29 in existence (dated to BC). Contains Fac 1 and 3. Recently translated by Michael Rhodes, The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary. A copy of the Book of the Dead in the Louvre is perhaps from same person (Hor). Scroll of Tsemminis Dated to BC. Book of the Dead text. Several fragments remain. Scroll of Noufianoub Book of the Dead text. 3

4 Two fragments remain. Scroll of Amenophis Nothing remains but a copy of three columns of text in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, no. 6. Book of the Dead text. Hypocephalus of Sheshonq Greek: Hypo = under, cephalus = head. Usually made of metal or linen. Fac 2. PART 6: JOSEPH SMITH AS TRANSLATOR Next to the Book of Mormon, Abraham probably receives the most attention from Church critics. In Joseph Smith s day, no one in the U.S. could read or speak Egyptian (only a handful of scholars in Europe were just beginning to understand it). Today, many scholars can. But it s not a science more than any other language, Egyptian cannot be understood without a full understanding of its religion, and we know precious little about that. Critics attack the Book of Abraham on many accounts, all of which have valid and important responses that are typically ignored by the critics. Examples below. (**) Attack: Now that we have the papyri, Joseph Smith s ability as a translator of ancient Egyptian writing can be put to an absolute test. Because the papyri are not about Abraham, the Book of Abraham, therefore, has been proven to be a spurious translation. Reply: First, we don t have the all papyri and we don t claim that the ones we have are anything more than what scholars say they are. In fact, BYU has been very active in translating and publishing the scrolls the Church has. We don t know what scroll JS used for the Book of Abraham it was likely burned in the Chicago fire or lost in some other way. Second, a hundred years ago, JS s translations of the facsimiles looked bogus to scholars who were just starting to understand Egypt and Egyptian. But the amazing thing is, the more they learn about the Egyptian language, culture, and religion, the more Joseph Smith is proven correct! More below on that. (**) Attack: The Kirtland Egyptian Papers (or the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar) prove JS was not able to translate Egyptian because he put one character down for each paragraph of text in the BofA. Reply: The Kirtland Egyptian Papers are not in the handwriting of JS. They appear to be the efforts of others (e.g., Oliver Cowdery and/or W. W. Phelps) who wrote JS s translation and then played around with some characters. There is no obvious correlation between the characters in the margin and the text. (**) Attack: The Book of Abraham was supposed to have been written on papyrus by Abraham about 4,000 years ago. This very same papyrus, it is claimed, was acquired by Joseph Smith in Smith translated the papyrus and published it under the title, The Book of Abraham. But the dates of the papyri themselves are clearly hundreds of years later. Reply: The Church has never claimed that Abraham himself wrote on these specific papyri, though we believe he originally authored what was finally translated as the BofA. How it was transmitted through the ages, copied and 4

5 passed on, is not known, but it is not a problem if the text JS used was a copy (c.f., we have no autographs from any apostle, but we still accept the NT as true). Also note the original Times and Seasons introduction: (**) Times and Seasons: A Translation of some Ancient Records that have fallen into our hands, from the Catacombs of Egypt, purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand upon papyrus. (**) Attack: JS said the mummies were Abraham and Joseph, but we know they were much later. Reply: Visitors to Nauvoo reported him saying they were Abraham or others, but in all first-hand accounts, JS went to great pains to say he did not know who the mummies were. (**) Attack: Professor C. A. B. Mercer, Western Theological Seminary: That the author knew neither the Egyptian language nor the meaning of the most commonplace Egyptian figures; neither did any of those, whether human or Divine, who may have helped him in his interpretation, have any such knowledge.... A criticism in his explanations could be made, but the explanatory notes to his facsimiles cannot be taken seriously by any scholar, as they seem to be undoubtedly the work of pure imagination (F. S. Spaulding, Joseph Smith as a Translator, Salt Lake City: Arrow Press, 1912, p. 29). Reply: Here are some examples of JS s translations. See how they compare. (**) AM: Fac. 1 figure 2 could not be Abraham it s just the deceased in a standard Book of Breathings text. Reply: Recent discoveries of other couch scenes actually mention Abraham (show image from Gee, Research and Perspectives ). AM: Olishem in Abr. 1:10 is gibberish. Reply: An inscription from the time of Abraham was found at Ebla refers to a place called Olishem. (**) AM: Fac. 2, fig. 1 JS s translation as Kolob is absurd. Reply: JS s comment that it is nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God agrees with the discovery that a Semitic root is QLB meaning heart, middle, center. (*) AM: Fac. 2, fig. 1 Jah-oh-eh is nonsense, not an Egyptian word at all. Reply: Egyptian word for earth is 3h.t, which is pronounced yoh-heh. (*) AM: Fac. 2, fig. 3 another nonsense translation. 5

6 Reply: The scepter signifies either kingship or godhood; the circular object is the sun certainly a crown of eternal light; the two eyes are the wedjat-eyes representing divine wisdom or intelligence easily the keywords of the priesthood. (*) AM: Fac. 2, fig. 4 is an Egyptian god, not the heavens or a number. Reply: It is the hawk-god, Horus-Sokar, who is associated with the revolution of the sun and other celestial bodies. The ship he s on is called by the Egyptians the ship of a thousand. JS is right on. (*) AM: Fac. 2, fig. 6 four gods, not parts of the earth. Reply: The four sons of Horus, gods of the four quarters of the earth and presiding over the four cardinal points. (**) There is too much that is right here for this to be the result of a lucky guess or chance. No one in JS s day knew any of this, but today we do and we see the Prophet vindicated. 6