Mystery of the "Tulli Papyrus" revealed
Everything began with a papyrus found in Cairo of which, however, there is no original, but only a copy.
"In 1934, the Egyptian papyrus, known by the name 'Tulli Papyrus' was found in an antique dealer's store in Egypt by brothers Professor Alberto Tulli (then director of the Vatican's Pontifical Egyptian Museum) and Monsignor Augusto Tulli. The papyrus, could not be purchased because of the high price, but Professor Tulli copied the text, which was then transcribed from hieratic into hieroglyphic, with the help of the director of the Cairo Museum, Abbot E. Drioton. The papyrus told of a series of sightings of mysterious objects in the sky. The protagonists of the story were Pharaoh Thuthmosis III (1504-1450, B.C.) and several of his subjects. The papyrus had erasures even in the original document, at crucial points in the text, erasures that seemed deliberate, as if to prevent the episode from being understandable. Professor Solas Boncompagni, a scholar of clypeology, learned in 1963 of the existence of the papyrus, the translation of which had first been published in 1956 in English by the ufological journal "Flying Saucers Uncensored" and then by "The Doubt" magazine. Boncompagni communicated this news to the periodical "Settimana Incom," which published his letter. The magazine "Clypeus" published, in January 1964, the Italian translation of the hieroglyphic text. The translation was supplemented with explanatory notes. Italian translation of the hieroglyphic text: "...on the twenty-second day of the third month of winter, at the sixth hour of day 1 the Scribes, Archivists and Annalists of the House of Life noticed that a circle of fire 2 ... (gap). 3 Out of his mouth issued a pestiferous breath, 4 but he had no "head," 5 his body measured a pole by a pole 6 and he was silent. 7 And the hearts of the Scribes, the Archivists all were 8 terrified and confused, and they cast themselves down into the dust with their bellies to the ground.... (gap) they then reported the matter to Pharaoh. His Majesty ordered to.(gap)9 was examined. (gap) and he was meditating on what had happened, which was recorded by the papyri of the House of Life. 10 Now after a few days had passed, behold, these things became more and more numerous in the heavens of Egypt. 11 Their splendor exceeded that of the sun 12 and they came and went freely through the four corners of heaven. (gap). 13 High and towering in the sky was the station 14 from which these circles of fire came and went. 15 Pharaoh's army observed it at length with the king himself. 16 This happened after supper. 17 From then on these circles of fire rose higher than ever in the sky and headed toward the south. 18 Fish and birds then fell from the sky. 19 Great phenomenon that never in living memory was in this earth observed.... (gap) 20 and Pharaoh had incense brought to make peace with the Earth 21 . (gap) 22 and what happened Pharaoh gave orders to write it down and preserve it in the Annals of the House of Life, that it might be remembered forever by posterity."
This is the papyrus:
Why was it translated from hierartic to hieroglyphic ?
The Tulli Papyrus was "TRANSCRIPTED" and not "translated" from the original Hieratic spelling into hieroglyphic characters. This was a common practice and procedure. Every papyrus compiled in Hieratic handwriting is first transcribed into hieroglyphic and then read and translated. There are persons who sight-translate the Hieratic but-usually-we go through a transcription in hieroglyphic characters.
The translation of the Tulli papyrus is as follow:
- .... from heaven, he has no head, the breath of his mouth gives off a stench, his body measures 1 khat* in length.....
- .... his voice does not come out. Their heart becomes lost because of this, and then they put....
- .... them....this announcement. He ordered His Majesty....record....in a papyrus from His Majesty's 'House of Life'....
- .... advise each other as to what happened. And after some days had passed after these events, behold, numerous....
- .... more than anything. They shine in the sky like the sun toward the limit of the 4 pillars of heaven....
- .... powerful is the position of the circles of fire. This army of the king sees....
- .... in their midst. This happened after supper. They ascended up....
- .... southward. Fish and birds fell from the sky....
- ....this land, it had not happened since this country was founded. His Majesty had incense brought....
- ... (A)mon-Ra, lord of the thrones of the Two Lands (was) in it.... ordered his majesty.... as writing in the house of life.
* khat, a measure of length equal to about 52 meters.
Rereading the translation of the Tulli Papyrus, I had the strange feeling that I had already seen a few sentences somewhere.
Yes, in line 5:
'toward the limit of the 4 pillars of heaven.'
I had already seen this sentence written in hieroglyphics. So I pick up the Gardiner's Grammar and leaf through it. Surprise! On page 90, in the exercises, there is this sentence!
Years ago, when I was doing the exercises on that grammar I had already translated it (that's why I remembered it), and now, there it is in the Tulli Papyrus!
I reread my translation of the Tulli Papyrus, and I notice another sentence that I had already seen.
Line 7 reads
'this happened after dinner.'
But this is a sentence taken from the Millingen papyrus dealing with the attack on Amenemhat I and which I had translated when I had studied that text!
A doubt flashes in my mind, and so I check on the Grammar: I find that expression, such as it is, in § 158! Then, with holy patience, I check all the sentences in the Tulli Papyrus with those in the Grammar and, surprise!, I can see that every line contains one or more quotations from the Gardiner!
Unbelievable!
Thus, an unknown author, in the mood to create a COLOSSAL JOKE, invented the Tulli Papyrus from scratch by copying from the Gardiner's Grammar the sentences that best suited his purpose! A crackpot, no doubt, but one who had shown acumen and great imagination. But what a crackpot!
A GENIUS!
A true genius who with his creation conditioned the world with thousands and thousands of gullible simpletons who took the bait of his hoax like so many candid little fish! And to say that many of these simpletons have made the self-styled 'Tulli papyrus' a flag!
Now, a consideration. I read that the so-called 'Tulli papyrus' made its appearance in 1934. Well, Gardiner published the first edition of his 'Egyptian Grammar' seven years earlier, in 1927. So Our Author (here I embellish him with capital letters: he deserves it) had plenty of time to come up with his JOKE and feed it to those who would believe it.
It all adds up: now we know for sure that the 'Tulli papyrus' is a colossal FAKE, comparable, I would say, to the prank of the Livorno students with Modigliani heads, the Loch Ness monster and how many other stupidities circulate among the devotees of the so-called 'alternative sciences'.
In conclusion, for the benefit of those who wish to check, I publish below the list of sentences from the 'Tulli papyrus' copied from Gardiner's Grammar, citing, case by case, the paragraph of the grammar and the original source, as indicated therein.
- Line 1: he has no head, §115 (Fr. Ram)
- Line 2: (their) heart becomes lost because of this, § 316 (Heb. 102:5)
- Line 3: this announcement (better: to announce this fact), § 299 (Sh.S. 157)
- Line 3: in a papyrus, § 111 (Pr.2,5)
- Line 4: and after some days had passed after these facts, § 327 (West. 12,9 )
- Line 4-5: behold, numerous..... more than anything, §145 (Bersh.i, 7)
- Line 5: toward the limit of the four pillars of heaven, p. 90 (from the poetic stele of Tutmosi III)
- Line 6: this army of the king sees, §323 (Hamm.110,5-6)
- Line 7: in their midst, §120, second part of the example (Sh.S. 131)
- Line 7: this happened after supper, § 158 (Mill. 1,11)
- Line 7: they went up on high, § 392 (Peas. B 1,4)
- Line 8: fish and birds, § 121 (Sh.S. 50-1)
- Line 9: since this country was founded §155 (Urk.IV, 95)
- Finally, the 10th line contains a marked error that Abbot Drioton would never have made: in the group identifying Ra, the diacritical sign precedes the ideogram!"
Here an hypothesis about the provenance of the papyrus in question:
"Those who visit Egypt well know that, in the vicinity of the most visited archaeological sites, there are persons who, conspiratorially, try to foist "ancient" finds on naive tourists! And, often, they are very good at it. I don't know how they manage to artificially age them, but, sometimes, without a physicochemical examination, it is very difficult to distinguish them from the originals. Given the high price asked for the papyrus in question (which, as any good dealer knows well adds value to the same), probably the good Tulli fell for it like a pear and (but this is just my personal supposition) realizing the hoax only after giving publicity to the "find," in order not to lose credibility, made it ...disappear! Who knows!"
The Mystery of the Tulli Papyrus is thus revealed.
Comments