It is not fair to frame the book of mormon and book of abraham as a model that has no evidence for itan easy trick for them to play when it comes to ancient history. With the discovery of the rosetta stone, egyptology had advanced profoundly by this time, and egyptologists were able to validate whether smiths translation of the scroll was accurate. The rosetta stone is a granodiorite stele discovered in 1799 which is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in memphis, egypt in 196 bc during the ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of king ptolemy v epiphanes. According to this work, kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne or residence of god. Champollions rosetta stone translated the book of abraham. The book of mormon is the main piece of holygodgiven writ that distinguishes mormonism from catholicism and the various protestant sects, and the unofficial name of the religion, mormonism, derives its name from the book. Standing side by side with the bible, book of mormon and doctrine and covenants, this was included as part of mormonisms standard works. The stone was later passed to british hands and taken to england. How to read egyptian hieroglyphs a stepbystep guide to teach yourself.
The book of mormon, a work of scripture of the latter day saint movement, describes itself as having a portion originally written in reformed egyptian characters on plates of metal or ore by prophets living in the western hemisphere from perhaps as. The rosetta stone was found 6 years before joseph smith was born. Book of moroni chapter ten yea, come unto christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love god with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in christ. Whereas it took champollion two years to decipher the 14 lines of hieroglyphic text on the stone, it only took joseph about 75 days to translate the 588 pages in the 1st edition book of mormon of reformed egyptian characters on the golden plates with the gift of god and the aid of the urim and thummim. Chief josephcuneiform in america 4000 years ago book of. Did joseph smith correctly translate facsimile 3 in the book of abraham. Smith who had claimed to have translated the book of mormon from golden plates that had been inscribed with. The decree has only minor differences among the three versions, so the rosetta stone became key to deciphering egyptian hieroglyphs, thereby open. After many years of dedicated work on the rosetta stone, scholars were able to decipher the ancient egyptian language. They say that god helped him translate the text using the stone and other tools, which became known as the book of mormon. It was now possible for scholars to translate accurately egyptian texts and to understand their contexts. A seer stone and a hat translating the book of mormon duration. John gee, two notes on egyptian script, journal of book of mormon studies, vol. How a mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in mexicoand.
Hugh nibley suggested that the kirtland egyptian papers was largely an attempt by josephs scribes to crack the egyptian language using josephs revealed book of abraham text as some kind of guide, perhaps in an effort similar to champollions use of the rosetta stone. The mormons regard the book as divine scripture equal to the bible in importance. The book of mormon was originally written in ancient egyptian, according to. Scholar gives new insights on martin harriss 1828 visit to charles anthon. In that event it would cast doubt on his other translation. In comparison, it took joseph smith about 75 days to translate 588 pages of the book of mormon.
The book of commandments, smiths journal and william claytons journal all say smith used his brown peep stone for the book of abraham translation. It is well established there are no ancient sheep found in mesoamerica at the time of the book of mormon, but artifacts about sheep have been found in north america. A new form of writing, demotic, became the prevalent writing style, and it is this form of writingalong with formal hieroglyphsthat accompany the greek text on the rosetta stone. Kolob is a star or planet described in mormon scripture. I recently was reading about chief joseph and have found some amazing things that tie in with book of mormon geography. Instead we have a book of abraham which was determined to be a fraud after the rosetta stone was uncovered, a byu study that shows he plagiarized parts of his bible translation, and deuteroisaiah passages in the book of mormon that could not possibly have been on the gold plates. This is the last of my threepart presentation on the book of mormon characters. Throughout the history of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, many individuals have forged revelations and historical documents. The book of abraham translation watchman fellowship, inc.
Wallis budge on the famous rosetta stone, which was the key to the modern decipherment of the ancient egyptian writing system. Discussions of book of mormon issues and evidences, plus other topics related to the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. Book of mormon, and preserved from making any errors. The book of mormon states it was written in a script referred to as reformed egyptian. The rosetta stone was the key to deciphering egyptian hieroglyphics. In addition, its original cast album won a grammy award in 2012. It showed that smiths pearl of great price was nothing more than a common funeral dirge. That egyptian influence is seen throughout the text is strong evidence in support of the claims of the text. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by joseph smith based. Working from clues found in the last inscription on the rosetta stone, written in greek. It is noteworthy that the stone was translated around the same time as the book of mormon. One official explanation as to why the original 1830 edition of the book of mormon was filled with grammatical mistakes and content blunders isprinters errors. Considering how things went when we got the papyri back from the metropolitan museum and found a regular egyptian rosetta stone, i would predict absolute disaster for the current translation of the book of mormon. Unfortunately for smith, however, the rosetta stone had just been discovered in egypt, which was the key to translating egyptian hieroglyphics.
In the late 1970s i heard an ex mormon speak about this. These developments involving the rosetta stone and champollion contributed to the coming forth of the book of abraham in a significant way. The rosetta stone was found in 1799, in rosetta egypt, and is now housed at the british museum. In the following picture you can see three different languages inscribed hieroglyphic, demotic, and greek. Egyptian bilingual text recovered in modern times, the rosetta stone aroused. English translation of rosetta stone complete in february 1828, joseph smith copied characters allegedly from gold plates and gave them to martin harris, one of the book of mormons three witnesses so he could have them inspected by charles anthon, a respected classical scholar at. The lds church admits on their website that the book of abraham is not a. Did joseph smith correctly translate facsimile 3 in the. In matt stone and the satirical broadway musical the book of mormon 2011. Why is it said that joseph smith was unaware of the.
Top 10 facts the mormon church doesnt want its members to. As one writer put it, during the early 19th century worldwide interest in egyptian antiquities fanned itself to a searing blaze. English translation of rosetta stone complete in february 1828, joseph smith copied characters allegedly from gold plates and gave them to martin harris, one of the book of mormons three witnesses so he could have them inspected by charles anthon, a respected classical scholar at columbia college in new york. The latter production, about mormon missionaries in uganda, captured numerous tony awards, including best musical. Jeanfrancois champollion spent two years on this project and translated the first 14 lines. The book of mormon musical by parker and stone 2011. His book of abraham con depended on his credulous locals believing that egyptian hieroglyphics were just as inscrutabl. Into how many languages has the book of mormon been translated. A second explanation takes into consideration what joseph smith meant by the word translation. Mormons believe that 185 years ago, smith found gold plates engraved with writing in ancient egyptian in upstate new york. He explains how the stone was used to piece together the egyptian alphabetic signs, the key to the rest of the hieroglyphics.
This claim, of course, contradicts the above claim of. When joseph began translating the papyrus in 1835, no one at that time in america could verify the accuracy of it. In time more and more men would become familiar with the egyptian language. Disproves lds claims that joseph smith received the book of abraham through revelation and proves that joseph smiths source for his translation was a pagan egyptian text, the book of breathings. Byui acquires replica of rosetta stone byui scroll. While translating the book of mormon, he used the urim and. Book of mormonlanguagereformed egyptian fairmormon. Their motivations were varied, and included lust for power or money, and a. Urim and thummim his magic translators had been permanently taken back by moroni a few years before. Disproves lds claims that joseph smith received the book of abraham. An academic translation of the book of mormon general. Explores the joseph smith papyrus and demonstrates that joseph smiths claim that he had translated the book of abraham from it was a fabrication.
Reference to kolob is found in the book of abraham, a work published by latter day saint lds prophet joseph smith, jr. Why doesnt the translation of the egyptian papyri found in 1967. How joseph smith invented reformed egyptian dan vogel. According to the book of mormon, bountiful was one of the first areas settled by the nephites, ancient people who supposedly sailed from israel to. He did this all before all the egyptian language was deciphered with the rosetta stone, and very. In 1880 the mormon church canonized the book of abraham and it became part of the pearl of great price. Its unlikely that smith would have even attempted his ruse if he was aware of the rosetta stone or that it had been translated. Wallis budge this is a collection of two articles by e. He puts a stone in a hat, covers his face with it and says, abraham wrote this. Scholar gives new insights on martin harriss 1828 visit. The scientific legacy of a quest to prove the book of mormon. The top and middle texts are in ancient egyptian using hieroglyphic and demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in ancient greek. With the discovery and cracking of the rosetta stone and the later.
Mormon and non mormon egyptologists agree that the characters on the fragments do not match the translation given in the book of abraham as with the seer stone, the church is relying on its we dont really know exactly what translation entailed excuse to attempt to explain away the obvious fraud. How joseph smith invented reformed egyptian dan vogel dan vogel. The stone dated 196 bc is significant because it was the key that unlocked the ancient egyptian language and culture. In 1835, joseph smith, founder of the original mormon church the church of christ purchased several egyptian papyrus scrolls and fragments from the owner of a traveling road show which exhibited egyptian mummies and documents.
How do mormon missionaries learn foreign languages so quickly. Pearl of great price is the book of abraham a fake. The book of mormon declares that abrahams sacrifice of isaac was a. Initially, it did not appear likely that this new development would impact the isolated mormon church in utah. This app contains the complete ebook with illustrations of the rosetta stone by e. The rosetta stone, not to be confused with the language learning software, is a fragment of a granitelike rock with a text carved in three different languages. When the book of mormon was published in 1830 likely only a few scholars in europe understood the language. Examining the book of abraham the rosetta stone jos. Turns out, the scroll was merely a common egyptian funerary text that had absolutely nothing to do with abraham. Chaldean priests then sacrifice three virgins to pagan gods of stone and wood, and one priest attempts to sacrifice.
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