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Fragment of Book of Breathing for Horos–A, between 238 and circa 153 BC

Source Note

Fragment of Book of Breathing for Horos, [Thebes, present-day Luxor, Egypt, between 238 and ca. 153 bc]; hieratic characters and vignette; Egyptian Papyri, CHL. Includes archival marking.
Irregularly sized papyrus fragment measuring, at its largest, 14¼ × 4 inches (36 × 10 cm). Shortly after JS and others acquired the papyri in July 1835, this fragment was pasted onto a paper backing, apparently to preserve it. This nineteenth-century paper backing measures 14¼ × 4¾ inches (36 × 12 cm). Sometime after the single fragment of papyrus was mounted on paper, it was cut roughly in half vertically, creating two pieces. The piece with the vignette, known to scholars as fragment I, measures, at its largest, 7½ × 4 inches (19 × 10 cm); its backing measures 7½ × 4¾ inches (19 × 12 cm). The second piece, known to scholars as fragment XI, measures, at its largest, 6¾ × 4 inches (17 × 10 cm); its backing measures 6¾ × 4¾ inches (17 × 12 cm). Residue from glue above the top edge of the vignette indicates that additional scraps of papyrus were lost after the papyrus was mounted. The paper used for mounting the papyrus contains plans for the in , Ohio, which can be seen on both sides of the paper. At an unknown time, someone drew on the backing paper, filling in the missing piece of the vignette with a crude pencil drawing of the figures. The verso of the backing bears the numbers 11 and 9 in graphite, which correspond to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art accession numbers of these fragments.
JS and his mother, , exhibited the mummies and papyri until their deaths in 1844 and 1856, respectively. Two weeks after Lucy Mack Smith’s death, , JS’s widow, along with her second husband, Lewis C. Bidamon, and her son , sold the artifacts to Abel Combs, who split them into at least two collections. One collection went to a museum by way of , only to be destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Charlotte Benecke Huntsman acquired other fragments from Abel Combs. Edward Heusser, widower of Huntsman’s daughter, Alice Combs Weaver Heusser, and their son Albin Edward Heusser sold those fragments to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in in 1947. In 1967, ten papyrus fragments, apparently all that had been sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were transferred to the Historian’s Office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One leaf with small scraps of papyrus mounted to it has been in church custody for an unknown period of time, though the church had it well before the 1967 acquisition of the other fragments.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Gee, Introduction to the Book of Abraham, 56; see also Gee, “History of a Theban Priesthood,” 59–71; Gee, “Cult of Chespisichis,” 138–142; Gee, “Horos Son of Osoroeris,” 169–178; and Coenen, “Ownership and Dating of Certain Joseph Smith Papyri,” 57–71.

    Gee, John. An Introduction to the Book of Abraham. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017.

    Gee, John. “History of a Theban Priesthood.” In “Et maintenant ce ne sont plus que des villages . . .” Thèbes et sa région aux époques hellénistique, romaine et byzantine. . . , edited by Alain Delattre and Paul Heilporn, 59–71. Brussels: Association Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 2008.

    Gee, John. “The Cult of Chespisichis.” In Egypt in Transition: Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium BCE, edited by Ladislav Bareš, Filip Coppens, and Květa Smoláriková, 129–145. Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University, 2010.

    Gee, John. “Horos Son of Osoroeris.” In Mélanges offerts à Ola el-Aguizy, edited by Fayza Haikal, 169–178. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 2015.

    Coenen, Marc. “The Ownership and Dating of Certain Joseph Smith Papyri.” In The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq, by Robert K. Ritner, 57–71. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.

  2. [2]

    See Source Note for Plan of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio (Fragments), ca. June 1833.

  3. [3]

    Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 78.

    Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, Charles Francis Adams, Diary, 15 May 1844, in Adams, “Charles Francis Adams,” 285; and “Correspondence of Friends’ Weekly Intelligencer,” Friends’ Weekly Intelligencer (Philadelphia), 3 Oct. 1846, 211.

    Adams, Henry. “Charles Francis Adams Visits the Mormons in 1844.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 68 (Oct. 1944–May 1947): 267–300.

    Friends’ Weekly Intelligencer. Philadelphia. 1844–1853.

  5. [5]

    Lewis C. Bidamon, Emma Smith Bidamon, and Joseph Smith III to Abel Combs, Certificate of Sale, Nauvoo, IL, 26 May 1856, CHL; see also Peterson, Story of the Book of Abraham, 203–207.

    Bidamon, Lewis C., Emma Smith Bidamon, and Joseph Smith III. Certificate of Sale to Abel Combs, Nauvoo, IL, 26 May 1856. CHL.

    Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995.

  6. [6]

    Peterson, Story of the Book of Abraham, 207–216, 236–247; Todd, “Egyptian Papyri Rediscovered,” 12.

    Peterson, H. Donl. The Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995.

    Todd, Jay M. “Egyptian Papyri Rediscovered.” Improvement Era 71, no. 1 (January 1968): 12–16.

  7. [7]

    Todd, “Background of the Church Historian’s Fragment,” 40-A.

    Todd, Jay M. “Background of the Church Historian’s Fragment.” Improvement Era 71, no. 2 (Feb. 1968): 40–41.

Historical Introduction

This papyrus fragment, which is now in two pieces, comes from the Book of Breathing for Horos. Many Egyptologists interpret the vignette on the right piece as the reanimation of a corpse by the god Anubis. The left piece bears some introductory material and parts of paragraphs 1–3 from the Book of Breathing for Horos, which are spells for the reanimation of the deceased and the purification of the body. A number of characters from this papyrus fragment were copied onto the Egyptian Alphabet documents, the Grammar and Alphabet volume, and the Kirtland-era manuscripts of the Book of Abraham. The vignette was published as Facsimile 1 in the 1 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons in , Illinois.
See also Introduction to Egyptian Papyri, ca. 300–100 bc.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Bell, “Ancient Egyptian ‘Books of Breathing,’” 25; Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 90–92; Rhodes, Hor Book of Breathings, 18–20.

    Bell, Lanny. “The Ancient Egyptian ‘Books of Breathing,’ the Mormon ‘Book of Abraham,’ and the Development of Egyptology in America.” In Egypt and Beyond: Essays Presented to Leonard H. Lesko upon His Retirement from the Wilbour Chair of Egyptology at Brown University, June 2005, edited by Stephen E. Thompson and Peter Der Manuelian, 21–37. Providence, RI: Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University, 2008.

    Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.

    Rhodes, Michael D. The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary. Studies in the Book of Abraham, edited by John Gee. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2002.

  2. [2]

    Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 145–146; Rhodes, Hor Book of Breathings, 27–29.

    Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.

    Rhodes, Michael D. The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary. Studies in the Book of Abraham, edited by John Gee. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2002.

  3. [3]

    See Egyptian Alphabet, ca. Early July–ca. Nov. 1835–A, –B, and –C; Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language, ca. July–ca. Nov. 1835; and Book of Abraham Manuscripts, ca. July–ca. Nov. 1835.

  4. [4]

    See Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 Mar.–16 May 1842.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Fragment of Book of Breathing for Horos–A, between 238 and circa 153 BC
ID #
18162
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, R4:8–9
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