Anthon Transcript

Photograph of what is commonly believed to be the 1828 document known as the Anthon Transcript

Martin Harris

Columbia professor Charles Anthon

The "Anthon Transcript" (often identified with the "Caractors document") is a small piece of paper on which Joseph Smith wrote several lines of characters. According to Smith, these characters were from the golden plates (the ancient record from which Smith claims to have translated the Book of Mormon) and represent the reformed Egyptian writing that was on the plates. In 1828, this paper was delivered to Charles Anthon, a well-known classical scholar of Columbia College, Columbia University, for an expert opinion on the authenticity of the characters and the translation. Some adherents to the Book of Mormon claim that Anthon attested to the characters' authenticity in writing to Martin Harris but then ripped up his certification after hearing the story of Smith and the plates. Critics of Smith claim that Anthon believed any idea of reformed Egyptian was a hoax all along and that Harris was being deceived.

Believers claim that the incident between Harris and Anthon fulfilled a biblical prophecy made by Isaiah, as Anthon is reported to have said to Harris, through Smith's telling of events, "I cannot read a sealed book."

In 1980, Mark Hofmann created and sold a forgery of the Anthon Transcript to leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which was revealed to be fraudulent when Hofmann's crimes were investigated.

Harris's account of meeting with Anthon

In 1838, Smith related an account based on Harris's version of the meeting. Smith wrote that Anthon "stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. [Harris] then showed him those not yet translated, and said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic"; and that they were "true characters." According to Harris, Anthon wrote Harris a letter of authenticity declaring the fragment to contain true Egyptian characters. Anthon was also reported to have confirmed the translation of these characters as correct. When informed that an angel of God had revealed the characters to Smith, Anthon reportedly tore up the authentication stating that there was no such thing as angels and asked Harris to bring the plates to him for translation. Harris then went to Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, who sanctioned what Anthon said.

Anthon's accounts of meeting with Harris

In 1834, Anthon stated in a letter that, "The whole story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscription to be 'reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics' is perfectly false .... I soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax .... [Harris] requested an opinion from me in writing, which of course I declined giving." Anthon stated in the letter that the story of his supposed authentication was false, that Anthon had identified the writings as a hoax, and that he had told Harris that the writings were part of "a scheme to cheat the farmer [Harris] of his money".

Anthon gave a second account in 1841 that contradicted his 1834 account as to whether or not he gave Harris a written opinion about the document: "[Harris] requested me to give him my opinion in writing about the paper which he had shown to me. I did so without hesitation, partly for the man's sake, and partly to let the individual 'behind the curtain' see that his trick was discovered. The import of what I wrote was, as far as I can now recollect, simply this, that the marks in the paper appeared to be merely an imitation of various alphabetical characters, and had, in my opinion, no meaning at all connected with them." In both accounts, Anthon maintained that he told Harris that Harris was the victim of a fraud. Pomeroy Tucker, a contemporary of Harris and Smith, wrote in 1867 that all the scholars whom Harris visited "were understood to have scouted the whole pretense as too depraved for serious attention, while commiserating the applicant as the victim of fanaticism or insanity."

Caractors document

The Community of Christ purchased the handwritten slip of paper known as the Anthon Transcript from the heirs of David Whitmer. Whitmer, who once owned the document, stated that it was this slip of paper that Harris showed to Anthon. Both Mormon apologists and critics, however, claim that it is not certain that the document is the original, since Anthon had mentioned that the characters on the slip he saw were arranged in vertical columns and ended in a "rude delineation of a circle divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Aztec calendar given by Humboldt," (1834) or "a rude representation of the Mexican zodiac" (1841). Recent scholarship, including handwriting analysis, suggests the "Caractors" document was written by David Whitmer's brother John Whitmer in or after 1829 and therefore would not have been available to show Anthon or others in 1828. The symbols on the document were published twice in 1844, after Smith's death, as characters that had been copied from the gold plates, one of them in the December 21 issue of The Prophet.

The document is portrayed in the 2004 film The Work and the Glory.

Translation

Jerry D. Grover Jr. believes to have translated the document. The translation follows below. It has not been independently verified.

Translation of the First Four Lines of the Caractors Document

In the nineteenthth regnal year of Mosiah (I), the Nephites traveled over the mountains to the foreign speaking people of Mulek. These twenty thousand ‘children of Mosiah’ traveled downriver on the east side of the River Sidon [Grijalva] for eighty days and reached Zarahemla. And then it came to pass that after ten years thus began the period of the Seven Tribes. After the space of twenty-one more years had passed, Zeniff, with sixty of his people, departed. Fifty-three more years then passed; then the Limhiites obtained twenty-four plates from the west in the Land of Desolation, returning upriver on the River of Lamanite Possessions [Usumacinta]. After their return upriver, seven years later, the Limhiites traveled west, bringing the pure gold Jaredite plates to Mosiah (II), which he translated. Previous to the arrival of the Limhiites, Benjamin was made King in the second month of the four hundred and thirty-sixth year after Lehi left Jerusalem. At the age of eighty-three, King Benjamin ascended to eternity, which was four hundred seventy nine years after Lehi left Jerusalem. King Benjamin’s death occurred one and one third years before the arrival of the Limhites. Four years before the arrival of the Limhites, the period of the Seven Tribes ended in conjunction with the Jubilee Year.

Translation of the Second Three Lines of the Caractors Document

--- Sixty and one half months (prior to the Coming of Christ) --- Samuel the Lamanite came to the Nephites and the Lamanites --- The Nephite primary count calendar was shifted from the 1000 Year Calendar to the Coming of Christ Calendar, effective retroactively nine years after the Coming of Christ Calendar started --- The 600 year Lehi Departure Calendar period ended; in the ninety-second year of the Reign of the Judges, the First and Most High King, Christ the Son, came to the Land of Jerusalem; after he was born occurred two days of brightness --- The Gadianton tribe arose; Nephi departed --- Seige of the Gadianton robbers, praise voiced to God; a Jubilee Year takes place which completes the Twelfth Jubilee period of the 1000 Year Calendar --- On the first month of the one hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Reign of the Judges Calendar, Christ came to the people --- After remaining fifty weeks, in the twelfth month of the thirty-fourth year of the Coming of Christ Calendar, Christ ascends upwards to heaven; the Reign of the Judges Calendar period ends; thus commences a period of truth and prosperity --- Nephites seek after riches; the rise of the Fourth Generation is complete --- Nephites retreated downriver on the River Bountiful [Coatzacoalcos] to the north countries; Three Disciples departed --- Innumerable multitudes of Lamanites came --- The Nephites and the Lamanites are without Christ and God the Father, now choosing to be led by Satan --- Moroni and Mormon are in the hands of Christ --- three hundred eighty four years.

See also

• Anthon Transcript forgery