Fragment of Book of the Dead for Semminis–C, circa 300–100 BC
Source Note
Fragment of Book of the Dead for Semminis, [Thebes, present-day Luxor, Egypt, ca. 300–100 bc]; hieratic characters and vignettes; Egyptian Papyri, CHL. Includes archival markings.
Irregularly sized papyrus fragment measuring, at its largest, 11½ × 18½ inches (29 × 47 cm). Shortly after JS and others acquired the papyri in July 1835, this papyrus fragment was pasted onto a paper backing, apparently to preserve it. The nineteenth-century paper backing is the same size as the papyrus. Several smaller scraps of papyrus were adhered to the fragment or pasted within its lacunae. Residue from glue on the backing indicates that smaller scraps of papyrus were also mounted to the backing and then lost. The paper used for mounting the papyrus contains part of a map of northern . Also adhered to the backing is a small square patch of what appears to be a drawing of the , measuring 2 × 2⅛ inches (5 × 5 cm). Other pieces of paper, including a small patch of papyrus, are attached to the verso of the backing, apparently to secure tears or patches. At an unknown time, the single papyrus fragment was cut roughly in half vertically. The left half was then cut again horizontally; the upper piece of the left half is extant, but the lower portion has been lost. The right half, known to scholars as fragment IV, measures, at its largest, 11½ × 8 inches (29 × 20 cm), with a backing of the same size. The upper left half, known to scholars as fragment II, measures 5⅛ × 10½ inches (13 × 27 cm), with a backing measuring 4⅝ × 10½ inches (12 × 27 cm). Written in graphite on the verso of the backing of the upper left piece is the number 10, which corresponds to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art accession number for that fragment.
Rhodes, Michael D. Books of the Dead Belonging to Tshemmin and Neferirnub: A Translation and Commentary. Studies in the Book of Abraham 4. Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2010.
The other fragment (the bottom fragment pictured here) bears no graphite number. Its accession number at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was 1. (Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 78.)
Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.
Historical Introduction
This fragment bears portions of chapters 89, 91, 100, 101, 103–106, and 110 of the Book of the Dead for Semminis. Egyptologists interpret this material as containing spells that offer the deceased entry into the afterlife to dwell, rejoicing, with the gods. The left portion of the fragment largely portrays scenes from the afterlife. The backing also bears fifteen small scraps of papyrus containing portions of paragraphs 1–5, 9, and 10 of Book of Breathing for Horos and portions of chapters 72, 91, 100, 103, 104, 105, 110, and possibly chapter 59 of the Book of the Dead for Semminis. may have been referring to one of the vignettes on this fragment when he described the papyri.
Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 185–197; Rhodes, Books of the Dead, 49–56.
Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.
Rhodes, Michael D. Books of the Dead Belonging to Tshemmin and Neferirnub: A Translation and Commentary. Studies in the Book of Abraham 4. Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2010.
Ritner, Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri, 275–276, 283.
Ritner, Robert K. The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition, P. JS 1–4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2011.
“The representation of the God-head—three, yet in one, is curiously drawn to give simply, though impressively, the writer’s views of that exalted personage.” (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William Frye, Lebanon, IL, 22 Dec. 1835, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 72.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.