Joseph Smith Hypocephalus

The original of the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus or Hypocephalus of Sheshonq, was found in the Gurneh area of Thebes, Egypt around the year 1818. [The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus . . . Twenty Years Later by Michael D. Rhodes] From translation of the text, it's owner's name was Sheshonq. Three hypocephali in the British Museum (37909, 8445c, and 8445f) are similar to the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus both in layout and text and were also found in Thebes. A woodcut image of the hypocephalus was initially published on March 15, 1842 in Volume III, No. 10 of the Latter-Day Saint newspaper Times and Seasons.

As with other hypocephali, the complete image represents the Eye or Shu, the Eye of Ra, or the Eye of Horus and was part of the burial materials created by Egyptians from the XXVIth dynasty onward.

Ra was Egypt's most important deity and has expression in multiple forms acting in the heavens, on earth, in the underworld, as the creator and as father to the king, [The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Egypt, Richard H. Wilkinson, 2003, pgs. 205-207.] but always associated with the sun. HIs primary icon was the fiery disk of the sun, usually encircled by a protective cobra (ureaus) and often with outstreatched wings or rays. Anthropomorphically, Re was expressed as a man with the head of a falcon, ram or scarab. He was also depicted as a falcon wearing the sun's disk, or as a ram, scarab beetle, phoenix, heron, serpent, bull, cat, lion or flying vulture. His three primary expressions were the morning sun as a scarab beetle, the noon day sun as the solar disk and the setting sun as a ram headed man. Within the image are compartments containing heiroglyphic text and figures that are typically extracts from Chapter CLXII of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. [The Mummy A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology, E. A. Wallace Budge, Second Edition Reprint, pgs. 476-477] P. J. de Horrack stated that the scenes portrayed in hypocephali relate in all their details to the resurrection and the renewed birth after death...symbolized by the course of the Sun, the living image of divine generation. The circle is divided to represent two celestial hemispheres and the cycle of renewal.

The numbers labeling the figures were added to correspond to explanations of the images and text given by Joseph Smith.

Figures No. 1, 22 and 23

Figure No. 4

Figure No. 7

Figure No. 10

Figure No. 13

Figure No. 16

Figure No. 19

References