MormonMason Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 (edited) Below is a scan of Lanny D. Bell's reconstruction based upon his interpretation of the evidence. It is from: Lanny D. Bell, "The Ancient Egyptian 'Books of Breathing,' the Mormon 'Book of Abraham,' and the Development of Egyptology in America," in Stephen E. Thompson and Peter Der Manuelian, eds., Egypt and Beyond: Essays Presented to Leonard H. Lesko upon his Retirement from the Wilbour Chair of Egyptology at Brown University June 2005 (Providence: Brown University, 2008), p. 30.From page 28 of the above cited work, we find the following:Finally, we are prepared to deal with the questions surrounding the suggested phallus in P. JS I. Gee 1992, pp. 101-102, has already objected that there is not enough available space to reconstruct the Isis kestrel here. Let me state clearly at the outset my conviction that the questionable traces above the head of the Osiris figure are actually the remains of his right hand; in other words, Joseph Smith was correct in his understanding of the drawing at this point.From there the author of the article cites a couple publications relating to the discussion of hand versus wing, and states additional reasoning supporting his conviction based upon other Egyptian artwork, finally offering his possible explanation of a man reaching up to embrace the returning ba." (ibid.)The work has additional reasons why the phallus idea won't work and why. It is an interesting read.As an aside, Ritner also cites this source incorrectly (erroneous capitalization of the word 'his" in the title, and wrong middle initial of the name of the first editor of the volume; should be "E." rather than "P." since that is what is printed) in the bibliography of the book under discussion in this and the other thread. Edited October 18, 2012 by MormonMason 3
Recommended Posts