Meditations on Vogel, Appendix K: Egyptian Alphabet

"...will be given in the own due time of the Lord."
 - Facsimile 2 

"The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give at the present time."
- Facsimile 2

"...the substitution of fictitious names for persons and places does not alter or destroy the sense or ideas contained in the revelations. But what the Prophet did in relation to this thing, was not of himself: he was dictated by the Holy Ghost to make these substitutions, for the time being, until it should be wisdom for the true names to appear..."
- Orson Pratt

How The Evidence I Present Might Be Interpreted

1. Since Joseph Smith told us in explanations for Facsimile 2 that he had no right to reveal certain information, it seems likely that he would not have been at liberty to come right out and mention Osiris by name, or things of that nature.

2. Since Joseph Smith was using code names at the time (1835) to protect the identities and lives of people, it seems plausible that any discussion he had with perhaps a limited set of people regarding the content of the privileged Egyptological information would have been done using code names and code words, to protect the information until "the own due time of the Lord."

3. As a Seer, Joseph would certainly have had a natural interest in understanding the ancient roots of Egyptian myths as they relate to the gospel.

4. The Kirtland Egyptian Papers seem to me to be a cryptic analysis of the Egyptian papyri - both the funerary texts and scriptural texts in the papyri, perhaps comparing them so as to find common gospel roots between them.

5. My analysis might dovetail with the research of others, and that link is worth pursuing.

6. I am open to hearing other theories that could help explain reasons why specific characters were chosen to line up with certain text.

7. My analysis deals straight with the evidence I uncovered of Joseph Smith understanding the content of the papyri.

The Evidence

Some of these are less important than others, but are included because, in aggregate, they demonstrate a pattern revealing the very significant fact that virtually everything in the GAEL can be derived from the papyri. So, although some might not seem significant, they are part of a larger pattern. I believe if more of Joseph Smith's papyri collection were available today, we might be able to see a complete pattern.

# 1

Robert Ritner: The name Osiris was first attested at "about" 2436 BC

Joseph Smith: Onitas "began to reign" in 2505 BC

Joseph Smith: Katumin died in 2447 BC

Note: Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery studied Josephus, who puts the date of creation at 5467 BC, which I used in the calculation. The valuable discovery notebook says Onitas began to reign in the year of the world 2962 and Katumin died 3020, giving the BC dates of 2505 and 2447, respectively.

Note: Joseph Smith places Onitas right at the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty, under Userkaf and queen Khentkaus. There exists some ambiguity about how long they reigned. The first part of each of their names resemble Osiris (Usir) and Khent-imenty.

# 2

Joseph Smith: The papyrus calls the male mummy King Onitas

Egyptology: The papyrus calls the male mummy King Osiris

Note: The idea that the papyrus said anything specific about the mummy, let alone that it said the mummy is a king, is not anything Joseph would have had a personal way of knowing, yet he got it right. King Onitas is a probable code name for King Osiris.

# 3a

Appleby: The papyrus calls the male mummy both a king and a priest

Egyptology: The papyrus calls the male mummy both a king and a priest

# 3b

Appleby: The papyri contain geneaology of the mummies

Egyptology: The papyri contain geneaology of the mummies

Note: William Appleby had met with Joseph Smith that day. See my analysis of the Appleby account. Joseph had no personal way of knowing these facts.

# 4

Joseph Smith: Osiris = Kah-tou-mun (Katumin)

Egyptology: Osiris = Khent-imenty (aka Khentiamentiu)

Note: the only significant difference between the names Kah-tou-mun and Khent-imenty is the "nt" combination. Khent-imenty dates so far back that the original vowels are complete guesswork for Egyptologists. However, the letters "n" and "t" (the "nnn" sound and the "tuh" sound, respectively) are both formed with the tongue in the same starting position in the mouth. Therefore, it is quite possible that the "nt" combination in "khent-imenty" represents an idiosyncracy of language not shared in English, which could make Joseph Smith's "Kah-tou-mun" rendering the closest match in English. Either way, the names are very similar.

The below image is from the "Valuable Discovery" notebook. The character on the left means Osiris (it is written backwards). Joseph Smith (Oliver Cowdery, using information he had learned from Joseph Smith) directly associates Osiris and Katumin. After the association shown in the following screenshot, between Osiris and Katumin, Joseph goes on to explain some details about a particular person named Katumin.

# 5

Joseph Smith: Kah-tou-mun was the name of a royal lineage in the female line

Egyptology: Khent-imenty was the name of a royal lineage: the First Dynasty of Egypt

Note:  the royal line of Kah-tou-mun evidently descended from the daughter of Ham, under her authority, thus making it a female line.

Note: The oldest Egyptian Kings lists are cylinder seals from the First Dynasty, which give every King of the First Dynasty the name "Khent-imenty." See Ancient Egyptian Chronology, Page 97:
Note: The First Dynasty was formed from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Cylinder Seals confer both the name "Horus" and "Khent-imenty" (aka "Khentiamentiu"). Because the First Dynasty was a unification of different royal families, the name "Khent-imenty" was likely carried over from a pre-existing association with one of the families, dating to predynastic times. Egyptology does not know why the Egyptians associated the name "Khent-imenty" with the First Dynasty of Egypt.

# 6

Joseph Smith: Kah ton num a lineage with whom a record of the fathers was intrusted by tradition of Ham, and according to the tradition of their elders, by whom also the tradition of the art of embalming was kept.

Egyptology: "Embalming in ancient Egypt predated the pharaohs"


Note: Joseph Smith would have had no personal way of knowing this.

# 7

Joseph Smith does not mention pyramids in the alphabet documents, despite pyramids being the number one thing most associated with Egypt.

Compare: the extant papyri do not mention pyramids.

# 8

<​phatoeup​> rolyal [royal] family royal blood or pharaoah or supreme power <​or​> King

Compare: Ptahhotep lived ~2450 BC, right where Ritner places the first attestation of Osiris (see above). Ptahhotep and his grandson, also named Ptahhotep, were both viziers, exercising power in behalf of the king, were probably of the royal family, and would have been major players in the very first days of the worship of Osiris by that name.

# 9a

Joseph Smith: pha-e the first man or one who has Kingly power or K[ing]

Compare: In the Osiris myth, Osiris was the first king of Egypt, before having a more universal reign.

# 9b

Joseph Smith: pha a more universal reighn having g[r]eater dom[in]ion or power

Compare: Robert Ritner said Osiris was the "King of the Universe," matching "a more universal reign."

Note: These are in this order in Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet, showing progression of Osiris from king of Egypt to king of the universe.

# 9c

Joseph Smith: Phah=eh Kingly power coming from some other Kingly power

Compare: The deceased attains kingly power by becoming King Osiris

# 10a

Joseph Smith: Sue Eh ni what other person is that or who

Compare: This matches the adaptation theory

# 10b

GAEL: ab eh Having been within= in the earth= in the sea; in any thing; b[e]ing applied to any condition or situation, to express one thing <​or principle​> or being in another.

Compare: By definition, "to express one thing or principle or being in another" matches the adaptation theory.

Note: 10a and 10b independently match the adaptation theory, but considered together, it's difficult to discount. It at least lends plausibility.

# 11

Joseph Smith: Beth mans first residence fruiful garden A great val[le]y a place of hapiness 1 times

Compare: The Garden of Eden has never been called a valley, so he doesn't seem to be talking exclusively about the Garden of Eden. This supports the idea that he is comparing gospel truths with Egyptian mythology because the Nile is a valley, and it can truly be called a "great valley." And, as a further convergence, Osiris represents plant life.

# 12a

Joseph Smith: Beth— sweet and precious to the smell

Compare papyri: Ritner, p. 148: "may your scent be sweet as a youth" p. 183: "how sweet is your fragrance" p.168 "O Atum, give to me the sweet breath of your nostrils"

# 12b

Joseph Smith: Beth place of happiness, purity, holiness & rest

Compare papyri: Ritner, p. 146: "Osiris Hor, the justified! May you enter into the underworld in a state of great purity..." p. 148: "...you are permanently in life, prosperity and health, enduring upon your throne in the sacred land."

Note: Most of the papyri is non-extant.

# 13

Joseph Smith: one-ahe or ohe the Earth

Compare: The hypocephalus depicts the Earth ("in its four quarters")

# 14

Joseph Smith:  ho-ee oop hah Crown of a prince or King

Compare: See this video, remembering that Joseph Smith focuses on the earliest days of Egypt, in his alphabet.

# 15

Joseph Smith: Iota tou-es Zip-Zip the land of Egypt first seen under water

Joseph Smith: tone tahe or th tohe ton-es beneath or under water

Compare: "Zip-Zip" with "Zep-tepi," the period when land first rose from the water. See Zeptah post.

# 16

Joseph Smith: <​Zi​> Virgen unmaried or the pri[n]ciple of vi[r]tue

Joseph Smith: Zie oop hah An unmaried woman and a vi[r]gin pri[n]cess

Compare: Joseph Smith's alphabet considers all the papyri, including the scripture, not just the funerary papyri. Virgins are mentioned in Abraham 1:11.

# 17

Joseph Smith: Aleph in the beginning with God the Son or <​first born​>

Compare: The Book of Abraham papyrus roll revealed the concept of pre-existence

# 18a

Joseph Smith: Iota the eye or to see or sight sometimes me myself
Joseph Smith: Ki <​the compound of itoa​> see, saw= seeing or having seen
Joseph Smith: Iota— me myself
Joseph Smith: Ki— me myself
Joseph Smith: Ki ah broam

Note: He applies the concept of seeing to himself and Abraham, and both he and Abraham were Seers. He appears to be referring to their role as Seer. The Book of Abraham tells us Abraham used the Urim and Thummim.

# 19

Joseph Smith: ah the first being who exercises Supreme power

Compare: The Osiris myth has such a god, Atum.

# 20

Joseph Smith: Baeth Ka Adam or the first man or first King

Joseph Smith: Baeth Ke the next from Adam one ordained under him

Joseph Smith: Baeth Ki the third patrearck [patriarch]

Joseph Smith: Baeth Ko the fourth from Adam

Joseph Smith: Baethchu the fifth high preast from Adam

Compare: Osiris is in the Great Ennead. Joseph Smith stopped at five, matching the Great Ennead, which stops at five generations from Atum (nine primary gods, plus Horus).

Note: It makes sense in the context of Joseph Smith looking for convergences between the Osiris myth of the papyri and possible gospel roots. So, we see a couple of convergences here. The name "Adam" and the name "Atum" are nearly identical. And Joseph Smith stops at five generations, just as the "great Ennead" runs five generations, from Atum to Horus (the sons of Horus are not part of the Ennead, and Horus is himself not always included).

# 21

Joseph Smith: Toan, tou=ee tah es toueh ton es.— A principle that is beneath, disgusting— not fit

Compare Ritner, p. 167: "Excrement is my abomination. I shall not drink urine. I shall not go upside-down."

# 22

Joseph Smith: Hoe aop hah— kingly power, dominon, right

Joseph Smith: Ahlish. Supreme power

Joseph Smith: Ahlish— The first Being clothed with supreme glory.

Joseph Smith: Ha e oop hah— honor by birth, kingly power by the line of Pharoah. possession by birth one who riegns upon his throne universally— possessor of heaven and earth, and of the blessings of the earth.

Joseph Smith: Phah ho e oop— A king who has universal dominian, over all the earth.

Joseph Smith: Phaah. The largest riegn, the greatest dominian, possessions or power.

Joseph Smith: Ah lish The first Being— supreme intillegence; supreme power; supreme glory= supreme Justice; supreme mercy without begining of life or end of life comprehending all things, seeing all things: the invisible and eter[n]al godhead.

Compare Ritner, p. 222: "O noble god from the beginning of time, great god, lord of heaven, earth, underworld, waters and mountains..."

# 23

Joseph Smith: Alkabeth, angels in an unalterable and immortal State; men after they are raised from the dead, and translated unalterable state.

Compare Ritner, p. 176: "he exists soundly just as he was on earth. He does all that he wishes like these gods who are there."

# 24

Joseph Smith gives us "Toan low ee tahee takee toues" as:

"under the Sun: under heaven; downward; pointing downward going downward; stooping down going down in<​to​> another place,= any place: going down into the grave— going down into misery= even Hell; coming down in lineage by royal descent, in a line by onitas one of the royal families of the Kings the of Egypt."

Think about this for a moment. He tells us this is "coming down in lineage by royal descent," but not in general terms. Rather, this is specifically related to onitas.

What does going down into the grave have to do with "under the sun," and coming down in a specific royal lineage?

Let's break it down:

Okay, what is the significance of "under the sun?"

In Egyptian mythology, where the sun sets marks the place where the underworld is located. And that is where Osiris lives. This is why Osiris is called "Foremost of the Westerners," i.e. the sun sets in the west.

The Westerners are the dead. So, it makes perfect sense for Joseph Smith to say, "going down into the grave." The mention of hell seems to be a comparison with Christian concepts of an underworld. And, in Egyptian terms, the deceased who failed to pass the "weighing of the heart" ceremony would be eaten by a monster. The dead had to face a number of monsters and so forth after dying.

Becoming a form of Osiris might not sound exactly like a "lineage," but the first chapter of the Book of the Dead does speak of this as being in "the house of Osiris." "Lineage" might be imperfect, but the mythology would be difficult to express in other terms.

And, of course, the Egyptians believed the god Osiris to have been an actual King of Egypt, his wife Isis was queen, his son Anubis was a prince, and so forth.

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Most of the papyri is non-extant and not available for comparison. The associations I have drawn with the extant papyri are non-exhaustive. I will be adding to this list as time permits.