The Book of Abraham Translated from the Papyrus, by Joseph Smith

[Zosimus]

Bradish probably also saw the Dendera Zodiac, which vaguely resembles the hypocephalus.

Bradish caught Lelorrain in the act of sawing out the Dendera Zodiac.

In an attempt to stop the theft Bradish tried to pay off the captain of the boat hired to haul the zodiac down the Nile. Having failed, Bradish informed the famous Egyptologist Henry Salt of the heist. Salt attempted to seize the zodiac for Britain but failed. Lelorrain smuggled it off to Paris where it is today.

The account is here: North-American Review and Miscellaneous Journal

[Kishkumen]

Bradish probably also saw the Dendera Zodiac, which vaguely resembles the hypocephalus.

Bradish caught Lelorrain in the act of sawing out the Dendera Zodiac.

In an attempt to stop the theft Bradish tried to pay off the captain of the boat hired to haul the zodiac down the Nile. Having failed, Bradish informed the famous Egyptologist Henry Salt of the heist. Salt attempted to seize the zodiac for Britain but failed. Lelorrain smuggled it off to Paris where it is today.

The account is here: North-American Review and Miscellaneous Journal

Many thanks for this information, Zosimus! You are a treasure, and I love it when you visit us to share with us such valuable evidence.

[Shulem]

Or he could have learned the same from Luther Bradish, a Palmyra native who had travelled throughout Egypt in the early 1820s. Oddly, Bradish was in Luxor around the same time Antonio Lebolo was there excavating the Book of Abraham papyrii from the Valley of Kings. Bradish knew Lebolo. It's plausible that Lebolo even invited Bradish to explore the crypt he had transformed into his home in Luxor that housed the mummies that would eventually be sold to Joseph Smith by Michael Chandler, who claimed to be a nephew of Lebolo.

Bradish caught Lelorrain in the act of sawing out the Dendera Zodiac.

This is reminiscent of Oliver Cowdery's description of the papyri described in the December 1835 edition of the LATTER DAY SAINTS' MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE in which he said:

These records were obtained from one of the catacombs in Egypt, near the place where once stood the renowned city of Thebes, by the celebrated French traveller Antonio Lebolo, in the year 1831.

<snip>

I may add that two or three other small pieces of papyrus, with astronomical calculations, epitaphs, &c. were found with others of the Mummies.

Cowdery learned of "astronomical calculations" contained on a piece of papyrus that was separate from the rolls of Abraham & Joseph. Surely he referred to the hypocephalus (round piece of papyrus) that was later published as Facsimile No. 2. Thus, as early as 1835, Smith and Cowdery were already pumped up into thinking the piece was an astronomical calculation.

And so, what did Smith say about the black dark personage of Facsimile No. 3?

He was a SLAVE!

But, in 1842, prior to publication, Smith covertly had Reuben Hedlock hack out the nose and headcloth and mutilate the face on the lead printing plate in order to make him look like a stupid slave rather than the noble dog-headed Egyptian god understood by the Masons as: ANUBIS!



PS. F-u John Gee, you piece of crap! Shulem has kicked your ass! I've destroyed your precious Book of Abraham! And liars like you go to the bottom kingdom!

[Shulem]

Don't hack my droopy nose off! I enjoy white privilege.

BYU white supremacist, John Gee.

(A nose full of boogers and Book of Abraham snot)

[Shulem]

I'm a liar for the Lord. I'm the buffoon in King Pharoah's court.

Have a blow for my snotty Abrahamic nose!

[Zosimus]

These records were obtained from one of the catacombs in Egypt, near the place where once stood the renowned city of Thebes, by the celebrated French traveller Antonio Lebolo, in the year 1831.

A couple problems with Oliver's account

1. Lebolo had stopped excavating crypts and moved back to Italy before 1822
2. Lebolo was dead before the year 1831

Oliver's timeline is late by a full decade

[Zosimus]

Thus, as early as 1835, Smith and Cowdery were already pumped up into thinking the piece was an astronomical calculation.

As Kish mentioned, this could have also been a reference to the Dendera zodiac, which was all the rage among Egyptologists in the early 19th century, and Bradish had first hand knowledge of the zodiac and likely was familiar with all the interpretations and debates circulating. A popular hypothesis, published in William Drummond's 1811 Oedipus Judaicus (ht to Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus), was that the symbols and constellations in the Dendera Zodiac represented various Old Testament stories. Sound familiar?

There is also something in Oliver's comments that has persuaded me that Joseph and Oliver were well aware of Josephus' account of Enoch's pillars, and that their project to translate the books of Moses, Mormon and Abraham was, in part, to reveal the antediluvian knowledge on those pillars. Cowdery confirms that the pillar mentioned by Josephus was on the same roll as the Book of Abraham:

Enoch's Pillar, as mentioned by Josephus, is upon the same roll.-True, our present version of the Bible does not mention this fact, though it speaks of the righteousness of Abel and the holiness of Enoch,-one slain because his offering was accepted of the Lord, and the other taken to the regions of everlasting day without being confined to the narrow limits of the tomb, or tasting death; but Josephus says that the descendants of Seth were virtuous, and possessed a great knowledge of the heavenly bodies, and, that, in consequence of the prophecy of Adam, that the world should be destroyed once by water and again by fire, Enoch wrote a history or an account of the same, and put into two pillars one of brick and the other of stone; and that the same were in being at his (Josephus') day.

Going to Josephus, he makes the claim that the surviving stone pillar containing the wisdom of Adam, Seth and Enoch were still standing in the land of Σειρίς, translated to English in variations such as Seriad, Seires, Serer, or Sir. Calmet (1672–1757) defined Seriad as "The Land of the [Bee] Hive", positioned somewhere in the "very far east":

"For the Bee, I have not been so fortunate as to meet with any appropriate information: I imagine it should be a creature, not of Mesopotamia, but of very far east: for, though I doubt not that Seria, Seriad, or, "the Land of the Hive," refers to the first swarming of the human race, yet it is by no means impossible, that this also was the peculiar country of the bee; and where that insect, in its wild state, acquired the greatest perfection."

[Shulem]

These records were obtained from one of the catacombs in Egypt, near the place where once stood the renowned city of Thebes, by the celebrated French traveller Antonio Lebolo, in the year 1831.

A couple problems with Oliver's account

1. Lebolo had stopped excavating crypts and moved back to Italy before 1822
2. Lebolo was dead before the year 1831

Oliver's timeline is late by a full decade

Yes, Oliver was somewhat in error. Jay M. Todd covered these particular points in an exhausting manner in his book, "SAGA OF THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM", but notes how "Oliver Cowdery's 1835 account is very important in its introduction of related personalities." Here are bits from Todd explaining Cowdery's errors:

• "The Question of Dates....also the problem of dating Lebolo's entrance into Egypt, discovery, and death. As will be remembered from Oliver Cowdery's account"

• "Interestingly enough, Oliver Cowdery's date of 1831 as the discovery is not a year in which Drovetti was serving as Consul-General. This too may pose another area of inaccurate reporting by Chandler or Oliver Cowdery."

• "Either Farmer or Cowdery could have erred in recalling the year — 1831 or 1832."

But never mind all that or errors of the Second Elder of the Church! How about the ERRORS committed by the chief editor of Times and Seasons who announced: "I alone stand responsible for it"; when the very TRANSLATOR (Joseph Smith) whose journal tells us he was responsible for preparing everything regarding the large cut for publication as Facsimile No. 2 that is illustrating the principles of astronomy:

• Recommenced translating from the Records of Abraham for the tenth number of the Times and Seasons, and was engaged at my office day and evening. . . In the afternoon continued the translation of the Book of Abraham, called at Bishop Knight's and Mr. Davis', with the recorder, and continued translating and revising

• At my office exhibiting the Book of Abraham in the original to Brother Reuben Hedlock, so that he might take the size of the several plates or cuts, and prepare the blocks for the Times and Seasons; and also gave instruction concerning the arrangement of the writing on the large cut, illustrating the principles of astronomy, with other general business.

Now, you know as well as I that several hieroglyphic characters were robbed and transported from a different papyrus and placed within the lacuna of the outer ring of Facsimile No. 2 and those very characters were placed UPSIDE DOWN!

Yes, Joseph Smith the TRANSLATOR had Hedlock place the characters in register No. 18, upside down.

One third of the rim contains characters taken from another papyrus, copied upside down and with no literary connection the original two thirds.

And yet we are to understand that Joseph Smith the TRANSLATOR knew what he was doing and understood the mechanics of the reformed Egyptian language that was allegedly used to comprise the Book of Mormon:

I wish to mention here, that the title-page of the Book of Mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated, the language of the whole running the same as all Hebrew writing in general; and that said title-page is not by any means a modern composition, either of mine or of any other man who has lived or does live in this generation. Therefore, in order to correct an error which generally exists concerning it, I give below that part of the title-page of the English version of the Book of Mormon, which is a genuine and literal translation of the title-page of the original Book of Mormon, as recorded on the plates.

So, here we are given to understand that Smith knew exactly where the words for the title page "Book of Mormon" were etched on gold leaf and understood the direction in which the reformed hieroglyphic language flowed, the same as Hebrew, from right to left. Thus we may rightly suppose he believed the same principle applied to the conventional hieroglyphic language that does in fact ordinarily flow from right to left.

And yet we get UPSIDE DOWN characters that "will be given in the own due time of the Lord."



REDFLAG!

[Shulem]

Thus, as early as 1835, Smith and Cowdery were already pumped up into thinking the piece was an astronomical calculation.

As Kish mentioned, this could have also been a reference to the Dendera zodiac, which was all the rage among Egyptologists in the early 19th century, and Bradish had first hand knowledge of the zodiac and likely was familiar with all the interpretations and debates circulating. A popular hypothesis, published in William Drummond's 1811 Oedipus Judaicus (ht to Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus), was that the symbols and constellations in the Dendera Zodiac represented various Old Testament stories. Sound familiar?

Indeed, and be it known the term "astronomical calculation" used by Cowdery in the Church periodical with Smith's apparent knowledge was in common use in books and journals during and before the acquisition of Chandler's papyri. Also, extensive knowledge of the Dendera zodiac was available in books and journals of that era.

Furthermore, anyone with the least degree of intelligence (including school teacher DCP) should be able to look at pictorial features within the registers of the hypocephalus (Facsimile No. 2) and easily ascertain there are astronomical symbols thereon pertaining to the sun, moon, and stars. It's not rocket science. Joseph & Oliver were spot on to classify the hypocephalus as something to do with astronomical calculation and the movement of the cosmos. And yet those fools failed to properly transfer hieroglyphic characters from a different papyrus and insert them into the lacuna of the outer ring in a right-side up position. There is no way in hell Joseph Smith could read ancient Egyptian, let alone translate it by the gift or power of God. Joseph Smith and the unHoly Spirit® by which he operated was a lie. It was all a shameful ruse perpetrated by Smith upon his gullible followers. Anubis's nose being brutally hacked off his face on the lead printing plate is proof that Joseph Smith lied. Mormons today have no way of defending this outrageous slander against another religion.

Shame on the Mormons!

[Shulem]

Going to Josephus, he makes the claim that the surviving stone pillar containing the wisdom of Adam, Seth and Enoch were still standing in the land of Σειρίς, translated to English in variations such as Seriad, Seires, Serer, or Sir. Calmet (1672–1757) defined Seriad as "The Land of the [Bee] Hive", positioned somewhere in the "very far east":

"For the Bee, I have not been so fortunate as to meet with any appropriate information: I imagine it should be a creature, not of Mesopotamia, but of very far east: for, though I doubt not that Seria, Seriad, or, "the Land of the Hive," refers to the first swarming of the human race, yet it is by no means impossible, that this also was the peculiar country of the bee; and where that insect, in its wild state, acquired the greatest perfection."

Cowdery & Smith were very much into Josephus and how the pillar of Enoch was a testament to the *place* and age (antediluvian) in which he lived:

Enoch's Pillar, as mentioned by Josephus, is upon the same roll.-True, our present version of the Bible does not mention this fact, though it speaks of the righteousness of Abel and the holiness of Enoch,-one slain because his offering was accepted of the Lord, and the other taken to the regions of everlasting day without being confined to the narrow limits of the tomb, or tasting death; but Josephus says that the descendants of Seth were virtuous, and possessed a great knowledge of the heavenly bodies, and, that, in consequence of the prophecy of Adam, that the world should be destroyed once by water and again by fire, Enoch wrote a history or an account of the same, and put into two pillars one of brick and the other of stone; and that the same were in being at his (Josephus') day.

Or in other words, the monument of brick might be destroyed by the flood in which Adam was said to have foretold, but the pillar of stone would survive and existed during Josephus' lifetime!

RED FLAG!

Why in hell did Cowdery suppose a stone monument could still exist in Σειρίς (Seriad) when Joseph Smith's previous revelations declared AMERICA as the land in which the Antediluvians lived prior to Noah floating away and landing on Mount Ararat?

Forgive me, but I feel impressed to copy a post from another thread that touches on this subject:

Wonder if BYU archeologists will ever issue a worldwide archeological statement to forget about the Rift Valley and look to Adam-ondi-Ahman in Missouri as the cradle of civilization.

It’s a fact that Smith and Cowdery were aware of the legend of Enoch’s pillars (stone & brick) and inventions of the early Patriarchs as recorded by Josephus:

And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind.

Cowdery specifically mentioned via publication in the Messenger and Advocate that Enoch’s pillar was depicted in a vignette on the papyri which has been identified as the Book of Joseph. Cowdery indicated that according to Josephus a monument of stone was meant to survive as a testimonial of Adam and the Patriarchs. And if Enoch built a pillar of stone in the land of Adam (America), where is that stone today or any remnants or ruins of a civilization that preceded the flood for some 1,500 years? Surely, Smith assumed there would have been some ancient remains at Spring Hill which according to revelation was Adam-ondi-Ahman, the very place where Adam visited his people (D&C 116).

But it never fails, Mormon truth claims always come up empty:

1. No Adamic ruins in Missouri
2. No king’s name in Facsimile No. 3
3. Jackal god with a nose chopped off does not make him a slave

But to make matters worse, according to Josephus, Enoch’s pillar ended up being manifest in the Old World “land of Siriad” of all places. But according to Joseph Smith, the New World (America) was the land of the early Patriarchs. Therefore, according to subsequent revelations, Smith & Cowdery had no business entertaining revelations about Enoch’s pillar being anywhere other than in America. Thus, Joseph of Egypt would not have drawn such an image because he would have known that it was on the other side of the world before the earth was flooded!

Everything about the Book of Abraham and the papyri is a train wreck for Mormonism!