The Ancient Owners of the Joseph Smith Papyri

Authors

Stephen O. Smoot
John Gee
Kerry Muhlestein
John S. Thompson

Keywords

Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith papyri, translation, ancient owners, Rosetta Stone

Abstract

Thanks to the work of Egyptologists over the past decades, in addition to knowing what texts the extant Egyptian papyri acquired by Joseph Smith in 1835 contain, we also know quite a bit about the ancient owners of the papyri. Because Joseph Smith incorporated Facsimiles 1 and 3 of the Book of Abraham from vignettes or illustrations contained on a papyrus now designated P. Joseph Smith I, XI–X, the identity of the ancient owner of this papyrus may prove especially interesting. “From the names, titles, and genealogies written on the Joseph Smith Papyri, we know” the owner of this papyrus was a man named Hor (or Horos in Greek). Hor lived during “about the same time period as the Rosetta Stone” (that is, around 200 BC) and was a priest or prophet of three Egyptian deities in the ancient city of Thebes. “As prophet, he was a spokesman for various gods, who interacted with prophets on a regular basis. As a prophet, Horos had been initiated into the temple’s sacred places, which represented heaven, and had promised to maintain strict standards of personal conduct and purity.”

Recommended Citation

Smoot, Stephen O.; Gee, John; Muhlestein, Kerry; and Thompson, John S. (2022) "The Ancient Owners of the Joseph Smith Papyri," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 61: Iss. 4, Article 38.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol61/iss4/38