The following comes from:
Quinten Zehn Barney, “The Neglected Facsimile: An
Examination and Comparative Study of Facsimile No. 3 of the Book of Abraham”
(MA Thesis; Brigham Young University, 2019), 86-87
While this is indeed a complex issue, we must remember
that the relation between the hieroglyphic captions and the pictures which we
assume they describe is not always as straightforward as we would like it to
be. For example, Papyrus Rhind 1 and 2 (Edinburgh 908 + 540, and 909) contain
several vignettes in which a jackal-headed figure, that we would assume to be
Anubis, is sometimes labeled as Thoth, Horus, and even Osiris. [53] A text on
the wall in the tomb of Ramses VI labels a bearded mummiform figure as “Corpse
of Isis,” and a similar figure as “Corpse of Anu(bis),” when we would normally
expect Isis to be portrayed as a female, and Anubis as a jackal. [54] At the
temple of Ramses II at Abydos, the relief of a fully humanoid male is also
given the caption “Anubis, Lord of the sacred land.” [55] If such a phenomenon
could happen on these Theban documents, there is certainly a possibility that
the figures in Facsimile No. 3 can be interpreted independent from their
hieroglyphic captions as well.
Notes for the Above:
[53] See Mark Smith, Traversing Eternity: Texts for
the Afterlife from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009), 333, 348. In Papyrus Rhind 1, two identical figures of Anubis are
shown purifying the deceased Menthesouphis with water. However, the figure on
the left of the deceased is labeled as “Thoth” and the figure on the right as
“Horus.” The text accompanying the scene also describes the scene as a “Spell
for the purification of Horus and Thoth.” Papyrus Rhind 2 features a depiction
of Anubis and Thoth holding hands, though the caption gives the name “Osiris”
to the jackal-headed figure, and the accompanying text in the column below the vignette
mentions nothing at all of Thoth. These and other examples ultimately lead
Smith to observe that “there is not always a complete correspondence between
illustration and text” (Smith, Traversing Eternity, 317).
[54] Joshua Aaron Roberson, The Ancient Egyptian Books
of the Earth (Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012), 176–178
[55] Sameh Iskander, The Temple of Ramsses II in
Abydos: Volume 1: Wall Scenes (Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2015), 399–400.
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