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{{Short description|Female character in the Book of Abraham}}
{{about|the Mormon figures|the one in Greek mythology|Aegyptus}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Pearl of Great Price}}

In [[Latter-day Saint theology]], '''Egyptus''' ({{IPAc-en|iː|'|dʒ|ɪ|p|t|ʌ|s}}) is the name of two women in the [[Book of Abraham]] in the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]].<ref>{{Mormonverse|Abraham|1:23-25}}</ref> One is the wife of [[Ham, son of Noah]], who bears his children. The other is their daughter, who discovered [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] while "it was under water" (1:23-24). [[Kirtland Egyptian Papers|Three 1835 pre-publication manuscripts]] of the Book of Abraham, in place of "Egyptus", read '''Zeptah''' for the elder Egyptus and '''Egyptes''' for the younger Egyptus.<ref>Hauglid, ''A Textual History of the Book of Abraham''; Whipple, master's thesis.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-abraham-manuscript-circa-july-circa-november-1835-b-abraham-14-22/4 |title=Book of Abraham Manuscript, circa July–circa November 1835–B [Abraham 1:4–2:2] |publisher=[[Joseph Smith Papers]] |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-abraham-manuscript-circa-july-circa-november-1835-c-abraham-11-218/5 |title=Book of Abraham Manuscript, circa July–circa November 1835–C [Abraham 1:1–2:18] |publisher=[[Joseph Smith Papers]] |page=5}}</ref>

The younger Egyptus places her eldest son on the throne as [[Pharaoh (Book of Abraham)|Pharaoh]], the first king of Egypt (1:25).  Pharaoh was a descendant of the Canaanites (1:22), a race of people who had a black skin come upon them (Moses 7:8). Some early Mormon leaders have taught that Egyptus passed black skin and the curse of Cain through the flood so that the devil might have representation upon the earth,<ref name="Harris2015" /> although this has now been repudiated by later leaders.

The word Egyptus is considered to be an [[anachronism]] in the [[Book of Abraham]] among non-Mormon Egyptologists and historians,<ref>Stephen E. Thompson, "Egyptology and the Book of Abraham,” ''Dialogue'', 28/1 (Spring 1995), 155-156.</ref> since the origin of term "Egypt" is believed to have come from another source much later in history from the time of the narrative described in the Book of Abraham. The word "pharaoh" is also considered to be an anachronism in the [[Book of Abraham]] for similar reasons.

==The Curse of Cain==
{{main|Curses of Cain and Ham and the LDS Church}}

[[W. W. Phelps (Mormon)|W. W. Phelps]], a counselor in the presidency of the church, was the first in the church to teach that Ham's wife was black because she was under the curse of Cain.  In 1835, he taught that Ham himself was cursed because he had married a black wife. [[Brigham Young]] also taught that Egyptus was under the curse of Cain and passed the curse through the flood.  In April 1836, within months of translating the Book of Abraham verses, [[Joseph Smith]] himself taught in reference to {{lds|Genesis|Genesis|9|25|27}}, "it remains as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in servitude!".<ref>"Letter to Oliver Cowdery, circa 9 April 1836," p. 290, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed December 24, 2020, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-oliver-cowdery-circa-9-april-1836/2</ref> John Taylor explained that it was necessary that the curse of Cain was passed through Egyptus so that "the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God".<ref name="Harris2015">{{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Matthew L.|last2=Bringhurst|first2=Newell G.|title=The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn20CgAAQBAJ&pg=PAiii|date=2015|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-252-08121-7|page=158}}</ref>

Like many Americans,<ref name="Swift Superstition">John N. Swift and Gigen Mammoser, "'Out of the Realm of Superstition: Chesnutt's 'Dave's Neckliss' and the Curse of Ham'", ''American Literary Realism'', vol. 42 no. 1, Fall 2009, 3</ref> many [[Mormons]] of the 19th century accepted the idea promoted in slavery states that black Africans had Cain's "mark" of black skin,<ref>{{Citation |url= http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/sermons_talks_interviews/brigham1852feb5_priesthoodandblacks.htm |title= Brigham Young's Speech on Slavery, Blacks, and the Priesthood |date= Feb 5, 1852 }}. Reprint by [[Jerald and Sandra Tanner|Utah Lighthouse Ministry]]</ref> and Ham's curse to be servants of servants.<ref name=SmithHam>{{cite wikisource |title=Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 2/Number 7/Letter to Oliver Cowdery from Joseph Smith, Jr. (Apr. 1836) |last=Smith |first=Joseph |year=1836 |pages=290}}</ref> These ideas were eventually abandoned by later church leaders as unsupported by scripture.

==See also==
{{Wikisource|1=The Book of Abraham|2=Versions of the Book of Abraham}}
*[[Criticism of the Book of Abraham#Anachronisms|Anachronisms in the Book of Abraham]]
*[[Interracial marriage and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
*[[List of names for the biblical nameless]]
*[[Wives aboard Noah's Ark]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Hauglid, Brian M., ''A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions'', Studies in the Book of Abraham 5 (Provo: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship/BYU, 2010). {{ISBN|9780842527743}}
* Thompson, Stephen E., "Egyptology and the Book of Abraham", ''Dialogue'', 28/1 (Spring 1995), 143-160.
* Whipple, Walter L., [http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5209/ "An Analysis of Textual Changes in 'The Book of Abraham' and in the 'Writings of Joseph Smith, the Prophet' in the Pearl of Great Price,"] unpublished M.A. thesis (Provo: Brigham Young Univ., 1959).

[[Category:Book of Abraham]]
[[Category:Ham (son of Noah)]]
[[Category:Mormonism and race]]
[[Category:Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)]]
[[Category:Mormonism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Criticism of Mormonism]]
[[Category:Mormonism and women]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]