Tutankhamun Exhibit: An Egyptian Endowment?

[_KimberlyAnn]

My girls are fascinated with Egypt, so when I discovered the Tutankhamun exhibit would be in Dallas, I excitedly purchased tickets. We'll be going over Thanksgiving break. We've been TiVo-ing History Channel programming focusing on ancient Egypt and watching it so that we'll be better prepared to understand what we see in the exhibit. The exhibit must be very popular, because not only did I have to purchase tickets well in advance, I had to purchased timed tickets. Ours are for five o'clock PM. Later than I wanted, but that's how it goes.

I've not studied the Joseph Smith papyri issue much at all, nor have I read Hugh Nibley's work regarding the Egyptian Endowment, but upon perusing reviews of the Tutankhamun exhibit, I was surprised to find that a few Mormons felt the exhibit and demonstrations had similarities to the temple endowment. I'll be looking for any resemblances and will return and report what I find, supposing I survive the Curse of King Tut's Tomb, which Madeline says might have traveled to Dallas along with the artifacts.

Has anyone been to the exhibit?

Is there a brief synopsis available of what Nibley had to say about the Joseph Smith papyri and the Egyptian endowment?

Here's a link for the exhibit: http://www.kingtut.org/about_the_exhibition

KA

[_Analytics]

If you look at facilimie #2, you'll see that the guy in Figure #3 is actually "made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed."

Likewise, Figure #7 is "God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood."

The gestures of those two individuals vaguely resemble a couple of the "signs" in the endowment (assuming, of course, that the member in #7 is an arm sticking out with a hand in a cupping shape, and not a penis).

[_silentkid]

I went to the exhibit in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. It was really cool. I rented the headset for the tour (make sure you do too, it makes the experience more educational). Surprisingly, the narrator didn't mention any parallels to Mormonism.

[_Danna]

If you look at facilimie #2, you'll see that the guy in Figure #3 is actually "made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed."

Likewise, Figure #7 is "God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood."

The gestures of those two individuals vaguely resemble a couple of the "signs" in the endowment (assuming, of course, that the member in #7 is an arm sticking out with a hand in a cupping shape, and not a penis).

Take a closer look though, this is a typical depiction of the fertility god Min:

Edit: Sorry, I have no idea how to reduce the size of this.
Edit again: Tutuing with image hosting and stuff. I think I have gotten the idea.

He keeps his legs together, one arm holding a flail aloft, and he has a boner:

[_Danna]

I saw Tutankamun in Egypt a while ago. The exhibits were fantastic but everything was crammed into the Egyptian museum like it was a furniture store cupboard. I was really keen on egyptology as a teen and still find it fascinating. The most amazing thing for me was seeing sandals and every day objects pretty similar to what we use to day.

You could wind up Mormon friends by discussing the theory that Moses was a priest of Tut's father, who briefly introduced monotheism to Egypt. One version goes that Moses and the other followers had to flee Egypt when the old pharoah died, and they ended up bring monotheism to Israel where they ended up.

[_KimberlyAnn]

Take a closer look though, this is a typical depiction of the fertility god Min:


Edit: Sorry, I have no idea how to reduce the size of this.

He keeps his legs together, one arm holding a flail aloft, and he has a boner:

Hey, Min is a lot like Mormon God! His arm is to the square and he has a Real Big penis.

As an aside, having daughters who love all things Egypt can be a little awkward. My girls were talking in the car about our upcoming trip and discussing Egyptology in general. Madeline disagreed with something Courtney said and all I heard was Maddie's agitated exclamation, "No, Min EJACULATED it into existence!"

I cringed just a bit.

KA

[_Danna]

Hey, Min is a lot like Mormon God! His arm is to the square and he has a Real Big penis.

As an aside, having daughters who love all things Egypt can be a little awkward. My girls were talking in the car about our upcoming trip and discussing Egyptology in general. Madeline disagreed with something Courtney said and all I heard was Maddie's agitated exclamation, "No, Min EJACULATED it into existence!"

I cringed just a bit.

KA

[_collegeterrace]

I got this one Shades....

[_Danna]

I got this one Shades....

heh heh heh,
I have a special one for you:



Edit: I have been tutuing with this hosting images thing

[_Danna]

So how did the exhibition go?