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The Joseph Smith Papyri (JSP) are eleven Egyptian papyrus fragments which were once owned by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph Smith purportedly translated a portion of these papyri into the Book of Abraham.〔For the distribution of the manuscript fragments, see John Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri," in The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, ed. Stephen D. Ricks et al. (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2000), 188—91; and John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2000), 10—13.〕 After Smith's death, they passed through several hands and were erroneously presumed by Smith's followers to have reached a museum in Chicago and been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. The fragments were eventually acquired in 1947 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met).〔"Review of the Year 1947," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7/1 (1948): 17.〕 In 1966, Dr. Aziz S. Atiya of the University of Utah noticed that these fragments were clearly part of Smith's collection of papyri. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) acquired the fragments in 1967. ==Origin== The papyrus fragments are parts of some papyri and eleven mummies which were discovered in Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. At that time Lebolo was working as superintendent of archaeological digs for Bernardino Drovetti. Sometime between 1822 and his death on February 19, 1830, Lebolo arranged to have them sold. The mummies were shipped to New York, where they were purchased by Michael Chandler in 1833. Over the next two years Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling some of the mummies. In July 1835, Chandler brought four mummies and associated papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then headquarters of the church. Although the Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799, the ability to read Egyptian was not well developed until the 1850s. Chandler asked Joseph Smith to look at the scrolls and give some insight into what was written on them, due to Smith's notoriety and claim to have translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates. Shortly after examining the scrolls Joseph Smith, Joseph Coe and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2400. After Joseph Smith's death, the mummies and papyri were in the possession of Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith and after her death on May 14, 1856, Smith's widow, Emma Hale Smith. On May 25, 1856, Emma sold "four Egyptian mummies with the records with them" to Abel Combs. In 1918, Alice C. Heusser, the daughter of Abel Combs' housekeeper took the papyri to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for evaluation. In 1947 the Metropolitan Museum acquired them from Alice's widower, Edward Heusser. Aziz S. Atiya of the University of Utah found ten fragments of the remaining papyri in the Metropolitan Museum's collection in May 1966, after he recognized the vignette was similar to Facsmile 1 in the Pearl of Great Price. Henry G. Fischer, curator of the Egyptian Collection at the Met, stated that an anonymous donation to the Met made it possible for the LDS Church to acquire the papyri.〔"(The Facsimile Found: The Recovery of Joseph Smith's Papyrus Manuscripts )", ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Winter 1967), p. 64〕 The LDS Church published sepia tone photographs of the papyri in the February 1968 ''Improvement Era''. Egyptologist John A. Wilson stated that the recovered fragments indicate the existence of at least six to eight separate documents. Another scholar estimated that the fragments constitute roughly one-third of Joseph Smith's original collection of papyri.〔Walter Whipple, et al., ''From the Dust of the Decades'' (Salt Lake City, 1968) p. 116 - as cited by Charles M. Larson in ''By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus'' (Grand Rapids, Michigan) p. 36〕 Scholars conclude that the recovered papyri are portions of the originals partly based on the fact that the fragments were pasted onto paper which had "drawings of a temple and maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area" on the back and were accompanied by an affidavit by Emma Smith stating that they had been in the possession of Joseph Smith.〔''The Deseret News'', Salt Lake City, November 27, 1967〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joseph Smith Papyri」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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