Pearl of Great Price Flashcards
Where does Abraham go?
From the land of Ur to Caanan.
Who is in valley of the nobles?
Valley of the Nobles – Scribes,
Prominent figures of the King’s
court, Priests.
Why is the great power of the Book of Abraham overlooked?
What does the Book of Abraham cover that is very important? (3)
The great power of the book is sometimes overlooked precisely because its five chapters offer tantalizing tidbits about subjects that may seem mysterious
or forbidding—Egypt and the universe.
But the book of Abraham is a powerful, Christ-centered text that has as its main
themes:
1. the eternal nature of the Abrahamic covenant,
2. the preeminence of Jesus Christ as represented even in the vast scheme of planets and stars,
3. And the role of Jesus Christ in the three great events of the plan of salvation—the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement.
Who were the most ancient owners of the papyri?
When does the papyri date to?
Most of the ancient owners of the papyri were
priests who lived in Thebes (one a governor).
Date to the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC.)
When was the Rosetta Stone discovered?
When is the Rosetta Stone from?
When did we begin to publish parts of the Rosetta Stone?
1799 Rosetta Stone discovered in
Egypt.
(trilingual – 2nd Century BC).
1822 began to publish parts.
Where did Antonio Lebolo dig?
Where did he get the mummies? How many did he keep? When?
What did Antonio Lebolo used to be?
Whose direction did he fall under?
Dug in the Necropolis
of Thebes.
Kept 11 mummies. Exhumed from the west bank of the Nile at Thebes around 1820.
Antonio Lebolo former Napoleonic
officer- resided in, and excavated in
Egypt under the direction of Bernardino
Drovetti, former French consul general.
What did Michael Chandler do?
“On the 3rd of July, Michael H. Chandler came to Kirtland to exhibit some Egyptian mummies. There were four human figures, together with some two or more rolls of papyrus covered with hieroglyphic figures and devices. As Mr. Chandler had been told I could translate them, he brought me some of the characters, and I gave him the interpretation.”
What did JS feel inspired to do?
How much of what he got? For how much? When? (year and month)
When did he begin translating?
Joseph felt inspired to purchase the 4 mummies/at least 5 papyrus
documents – including at least two scrolls - $2400 – July 1835.
How did Joseph Smith work on the translation? When? What hindered him?
What did JS try to learn?
Worked on it off and on through November 1835, but set it aside to deal with finishing the Kirtland temple and troubles in Missouri.
Hebrew.
When and where was the Book of Abraham published?
What do we not have?
Began publishing the book of Abraham in segments beginning in March 1842 in Times and Seasons in Nauvoo.
We do not have the entire book of Abraham nor the book of Joseph, or Enoch (HC 2:235)
What was on the papyrus roles?
Joseph Smith, prophet of the Church, examined the
papyrus rolls and, after commencing “the translation of
some of the characters or hieroglyphics,” said that “one
of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another
the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc.”
How could JS afford the mummies and papyri? How much did he get? For how much?
In early July of 1835, Joseph Smith (with assistance from
Joseph Coe, Simeon Andrews, and others) paid
Chandler $ 2,400 for four mummies and at least four
papyrus documents, including two or more rolls of
papyri.
Describe the four papyri:
(1) some papyri “preserved under glass,” described as “a number of glazed
slides, like picture frames, containing sheets of papyrus, with Egyptian
inscriptions and hieroglyphics” (1837)
(2) “a long roll of manuscript” described as the “roll of papyrus from which
our prophet translated the Book of Abraham.” It was further described: “The
roll was as dark as the bones of the Mummies, and bore very much the
same appearance; the opened sheets were exceedingly like thin
parchment, and of quite a light color. There were birds, fishes, and fantastic
looking people, interspersed amidst hyeroglyphics [sic]”
(3) “another roll”;
(4) and “two or three other small pieces of papyrus with astronomical
calculations, epitaphs, &c.”
What do we not know? (2)
What about Gee and Draper?
What did John Taylor say?
What happened to the mummies and papyri after JS died?
Don’t’ know what percentage the prophet Joseph translated is
published. The location of the other original manuscripts that he
translated is unknown. (John Gee says 25%; Draper 242 = 15%).
John Taylor (Times and Seasons 1 Feb. 1843) said Joseph would publish more. Martyred.
After Joseph’s death in 1844, the mummies and papyri remained
with his mother until she died in 1856. They then passed on to
Emma, who had remarried and remained in Illinois after the Saints
headed West.
What happened in Chicago?
What of the papyri do we currently have?
How many Eygptian individual’s names do we have?
All content of book of Abraham destroyed in Chicago fire of 1871?
Papyri we currently have are 11 groups of fragments from 3 different papyri.
At least 5 Egyptian individuals named.
Where is the papyri that we have now?
What did the newspapers do?
Eyewitness accounts describe papyri preserved under glass – Met Museum.
The newspapers garbled the story by wrongly making Atiyathe discoverer of the
documents, which disturbed Fischer.
What did W. William Phelps say?
“Four Egyptian mummies were brought here. With them were two papyrus rolls, besides some other ancient Egyptian writings. As no one could translate these writings they were presented to President Smith…He said that the rolls of papyrus contained a sacred record kept by Joseph in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt and the teachings of Father Abraham. God has so ordered it that these writings and mummies have been brought into the Church.”
