Why was the Book of Abraham written in Egyptian and not in Greek?

[Fence Sitter]

Michael Chandler showed up in Kirtland at the end of June 1835 with what remained of a larger collection of Egyptian mummies and papyrus rolls that he had been exhibiting and selling off throughout the United States. Upon his arrival, Joseph Smith examined the rolls and said that “one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc.” Smith convinced his followers that these were authentic autographs of Abraham and Joseph and they bought what remained of Chandler's Egyptian collection. All extant fragments from this collection are in Egyptian, as well as any handwritten copies of the text or from the facsimiles. These documents date from the 1st and 2nd BCE and there is no question that whichever document it was that Smith used to produce the Book of Abraham, it was written in Egyptian. Why would it be in Egyptian? All the important texts of the Jews in Egypt at that time were in Greek or Hebrew. In fact, Hebrew was rapidly becoming a dead language in Egypt, many Jews there only spoke Greek. According to legend dating back to the 2nd century BCE, Ptolemy II asked the high priest Eleazar in Jerusalem to send learned men to Egypt to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The result of this endeavor was the Septuagint, which came to be seen by the Jews as an improvement on the Hebrew original. So, even if a copy of the Book of Abraham existed at that time in Egypt, it would have been in Greek, not Egyptian. An Egyptian version does not make any sense.

[drumdude]

The church claims that the document could have been copied in the 2nd Century BC, since Abraham existed many hundreds of years earlier (though unbiased scholars doubt he existed at all.)

This doesn’t fit in with Joseph’s prophetic claim that the scrolls themselves were written by Abraham’s own hand upon papyrus.

It’s all made up, it’s like asking why Xenu chose to use hydrogen bombs instead of atomic bombs to blow up all the Thetans in Scientology’s holy book.

[Kishkumen]

A couple of thoughts here:

1. Egyptian was long viewed by some Western intellectuals as a mystical, esoteric language that could impart mysterious knowledge to those who knew how to translate it. Look up Athanasius Kircher’s ideas about Egyptian.
2. People were excited about Egypt because of Napoleon’s invasion of the country.
3. Smith obviously thought Egyptian was cool because he had his Hebrews in America, of all people and places, use it to keep their records.
4. Some people had theorized that the Native Americans came from Egypt.
5. If you take the Mopologetic view, of course there were Jews who knew Demotic Egyptian. On that point they are surely right.
6. Josephus, whom Smith was expanding on in the Book of Abraham, portrays Abraham as the one who taught the Egyptians everything worthwhile, so he may have believed Egyptian writing was on that list. That would make Abraham the father of Egyptian hieroglyphs (according to this strange ancient viewpoint). The Jews bragged of their great antiquity, and early anti-Semitism was all about proving the opposite. Greek anti-Semites argued that the Jews were just cast-offs from Egypt who were expelled for carrying a disease. Philo-semites would, of course, argue that Abraham basically invented Egyptian civilization. Both perspectives are absurd.

ETA: As I get older, the idea that astronomy was basically beamed into Abraham’s head by God is increasingly annoying to me. Centuries of watching the sky and recording the movements and positions of heavenly bodies were behind the evolution of astronomy. This happened in places like ancient Babylon. So “God and Abraham did it” is, in fact, something like the stupid “ancient alien” conspiracy theory. People need to learn actual history and not follow myths that obscure actual history.

[Fence Sitter]

Thanks Kishkumen,

I also recommend Scott Trafton's Egypt Land on 19th century Egyptomania and Race.

I do understand why Smith made such a claim. I should have been clearer in my OP. My remarks were directed at those who are still trying to defend Smith's claim that he translated the Book of Abraham from an Egyptian text of the Book of Abraham that was part of the materials he obtained from Chandler. If such a text had been produced around the 1st or 2nd century BCE in Egypt by Jewish scribes, it almost certainly would have been in produced in Greek as that is the language the Jews were using in Egypt at that time for their religious texts. The fact that Smith claimed it was an Egyptian text is just more evidence that it was something he made up in the 19th century, as well as for all the reasons you point out.

[Markk]

A couple of thoughts here:

1. Egyptian was long viewed by some Western intellectuals as a mystical, esoteric language that could impart mysterious knowledge to those who knew how to translate it. Look up Athanasius Kircher’s ideas about Egyptian.
2. People were excited about Egypt because of Napoleon’s invasion of the country.
3. Smith obviously thought Egyptian was cool because he had his Hebrews in America, of all people and places, use it to keep their records.
4. Some people had theorized that the Native Americans came from Egypt.
5. If you take the Mopologetic view, of course there were Jews who knew Demotic Egyptian. On that point they are surely right.
6. Josephus, whom Smith was expanding on in the Book of Abraham, portrays Abraham as the one who taught the Egyptians everything worthwhile, so he may have believed Egyptian writing was on that list. That would make Abraham the father of Egyptian hieroglyphs (according to this strange ancient viewpoint). The Jews bragged of their great antiquity, and early anti-Semitism was all about proving the opposite. Greek anti-Semites argued that the Jews were just cast-offs from Egypt who were expelled for carrying a disease. Philo-semites would, of course, argue that Abraham basically invented Egyptian civilization. Both perspectives are absurd.

ETA: As I get older, the idea that astronomy was basically beamed into Abraham’s head by God is increasingly annoying to me. Centuries of watching the sky and recording the movements and positions of heavenly bodies were behind the evolution of astronomy. This happened in places like ancient Babylon. So “God and Abraham did it” is, in fact, something like the stupid “ancient alien” conspiracy theory. People need to learn actual history and not follow myths that obscure actual history.

I believe it is just as simple as Greek could be written and read, Egyptian could not. It is how a con man thinks.

[Kishkumen]

I believe it is just as simple as Greek could be written and read, Egyptian could not. It is how a con man thinks.

That doesn’t change the fact that Smith was expanding Josephus’ material on Abraham, or the fact that Joseph, whom he claimed to be descended from, was most famous for his time in Egypt. I don’t think your explanation cuts it.

[huckelberry]

fence sitter, I thought the idea was the book was written by Abraham who lived well before Greek had significant presence in Egypt. (Kishkumen, if that simple jump to a conclusion is wrong, please advise me.) Kishkumen has interesting observations about an Egyptian instead of a Canaanite family language being the vehicle of choice. I find myself a bit unsure precisely what language Abraham spoke and what writing system he would have known.

But there is the memorable explanation Nibley provided in the Improvement Era some fifty years ago. Abraham wrote his book in Egyptian with a secret code which made it look like an Egyptian funeral document but when the code is understood it become the book of Abraham. This was copied over and over by scribes unaware of the secret message they were handing down to be delivered to America in a later time. This holds the whole problem together very nicely, doesn't it?

Ok I confess that the article I am remembering was my first awareness of the case of the church receiving back the original papyrus and the study of these important documents. I had already fallen into disbelief at the time and could only see Nibley's proposal as bizarre, comic. To stretch that far, the problem must be really bad.

[Markk]

I believe it is just as simple as Greek could be written and read, Egyptian could not. It is how a con man thinks.

That doesn’t change the fact that Smith was expanding Josephus’ material on Abraham, or the fact that Joseph, whom he claimed to be descended from, was most famous for his time in Egypt. I don’t think your explanation cuts it.

And that is Okay and fair...but I'll go with Occam on this one. Greek could be read, Egyptian was a mystery and was just being tacked in Europe and no one here had a clue about it.

All your points are interesting, and who knows maybe you are right, but I just don't believe Joseph was that calculated, his mind was always, always, racing. I don't believe he was that proactive, but 100% reactionary...which is why he used revelations as either a means of obtaining something or getting himself out of trouble. I honestly believe, and admit I could never prove it, that Joseph had ADHD and just rolled with it.

I believe he thought that he could interpret the glyphs any way he wanted and in his mind knew or thought no one could correct him...and in a great sense he was correct, it was not until what 1919 or so that the folks cried BS on the Book of Abraham...it was certainly after his murder.

Peace Kish.

[Gadianton]

Markk's point I agree is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Obviously, if Egyptian had been deciphered, Smith wouldn't have pretended to translate it. But merely not being deciphered wasn't a reason to pick Egyptian rather than any other language that hadn't been cracked at the time. Or even going the route of faking an ancient language.

ETA: As I get older, the idea that astronomy was basically beamed into Abraham’s head by God is increasingly annoying to me. Centuries of watching the sky and recording the movements and positions of heavenly bodies were behind the evolution of astronomy. This happened in places like ancient Babylon. So “God and Abraham did it” is, in fact, something like the stupid “ancient alien” conspiracy theory. People need to learn actual history and not follow myths that obscure actual history.

This is a great point, especially when Babylon, is synonymous in Mormon thinking with everything bad.

[Markk]

Markk's point I agree is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Obviously, if Egyptian had been deciphered, Smith wouldn't have pretended to translate it. But merely not being deciphered wasn't a reason to pick Egyptian rather than any other language that hadn't been cracked at the time. Or even going the route of faking an ancient language.

ETA: As I get older, the idea that astronomy was basically beamed into Abraham’s head by God is increasingly annoying to me. Centuries of watching the sky and recording the movements and positions of heavenly bodies were behind the evolution of astronomy. This happened in places like ancient Babylon. So “God and Abraham did it” is, in fact, something like the stupid “ancient alien” conspiracy theory. People need to learn actual history and not follow myths that obscure actual history.

This is a great point, especially when Babylon, is synonymous in Mormon thinking with everything bad.

Well I would argue that because Chandler was dealing in Egyptian antiquity, Joe jumped all over it. Is is not like he had a choice of languages and options to choose from. He chose Egyptian because the opportunity presented itself, which is what every con man thrives on, first an opportunity and then suckers, Lol like me.

I am not saying he did not lean on, or know about, or use Josephus and other works, such as Clark's commentaries. I am saying that Chandler presented an opportunity for Joseph Smith to exploit the folks and the Mummies and Papyri were a perfect opportunity in that no one could prove him wrong. If it were Greek MSS, then it would have been exposed much sooner than later. Remember Joseph Smith did not want the mummies, he wanted the papyri...that was his focus. Chandler said he either take it all or nothing.

I would also argue the KEP supports my position...he knew no one could cry BS at that time, he actually believed he could con folks into believing he could read Egyptian. in my opinion it was the perfect storm for a con from a pious fraud.