Hor Book of Breathings Analyzed in New Study

The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary, by Michael D. Rhodes, was recently published by FARMS. This landmark volume is a full publication of the Hor Book of Breathings (the extant portions of the roll from which Facsimiles 1 and 3 of the Book of Abraham also derive) and includes a transliteration, translation, and philological commentary; a complete glossary of all Egyptian words in the surviving text; and both color and gray-scale digital images of the papyri.

“I hope that this publication will prove useful to scholars interested in Egyptian religious writings of the Greco-Roman era and will provide material for a better understanding of the grammar, vocabulary, and paleography of that period,” writes author Michael D. Rhodes in the preface.

The Hor Book of Breathings is a part of eleven papyri fragments in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art that came to the attention of Dr. Aziz Atiyah in 1966. These fragments, subsequently donated to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1967, came from three separate papyri rolls. Joseph Smith Papyri I, X, and XI are from the Book of Breathings belonging to Hor (Ór), the son of Usiwer (Wsir-wr), which is the subject of this book. (The Book of the Dead fragments will be the subject of a separate book.)

The Hor Book of Breathings is the second volume in the Studies in the Book of Abraham series, following Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (edited by John A. Tvedtnes, Brian M. Hauglid, and John Gee), published by FARMS in 2001.

In addition to providing a translation and transliteration, Rhodes, an associate research professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU, examines such topics as the history and paleography of the papyrus, grammatical forms and vocabulary, the language of the Book of Breathings, the vignettes, and the Book of Breathings made by Isis.

To obtain a copy of The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary, see the enclosed order form or visit the bookstore section of the FARMS Web site.