My Book of Abraham Question

Post by **_Blixa** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:49 pm

I've never seen this addressed before, but my knowledge of the ins and outs of the Book of Abraham is not very complete, so it may very well have been.

Anyway, here it is:

This is the well known facsimile:

But this is the papyrus with whoever's fill-in-the-blank:

It looks to me like someone has drawn in a different figure: a full front head rather than a profile and a raised arm, thusly:

Am I wrong? Why the discrepancy?

(sorry about the image size, but I wanted it to be seen clearly)

Post by **_Bond...James Bond** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:50 pm

Yep....the drawing does so the whole face rather than just a profile.

Post by **_Who Knows** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:04 pm

The facsimiles included in the scriptures are just the rendering of the papyri by Reuben Hedlock.

They went through various revisions, with the help of joseph smith.

There is another big difference between the 2 - notice where the guy is standing. In the original, he is in front of the table, but behind the other dudes legs. In hedlock's, he is behind the table.

Post by **_Blixa** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:10 pm

Yeah I noticed that too. Still the front face vs. profile is quite a difference. Is there some verification of who drew on the papyrus?

Post by **_Who Knows** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:24 pm

Blixa wrote:Is there some verification of who drew on the papyrus?

No.

We can see the papyri as it is. We can also see the facsimile as it appears in the scriptures. We know that Joseph Smith and Hedlock were responsible for the representation of the facsimile as it appears in the scriptures.

My opinion is that they went through a number of versions before deciding on the final. What you see as drawn into the actual papyri, is probably just one of those versions.

Post by **_Blixa** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:23 pm

Thanks for the information Who Knows. I've always wondered ever since I first saw a photo of the papyrus with that cartoony face drawn in for the "priest."