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How Joseph Smith Accidentally Bought Sacred Texts From A Traveling Mummy Salesman
A happy coincidence with a healthy dose of controversy
The very fabric and foundations of the Mormon faith were heavily influenced by a man that most people know existed. In a twist of fate that can only arise from the randomness of history, this man unwittingly helped fuel the rise of one of America’s most bizarre religious sects. The man was named Antonio Lebolo, and he had nothing to do with the United States or the protestant revival happening half a world away. In fact, he probably knew little to nothing of the land he was about to influence.
Antonio Lebolo was a mercenary and agent who worked for various French interests during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon’s fortunes turned for the worse, Lebolo fled to Egypt, where he began a sketchy career as an excavationist. Lebolo made a name for himself by excavating various sites around Egypt and then unscrupulously selling what he dug out of the ground for large sums of money. Lebolo struck figuratively struck gold during an expedition between 1817 and 1821 when he uncovered no fewer than eleven well preserved mummies, perhaps more. Lebolo turned some of the mummies over to his employer, Bernardino Drovetti, a noted looter, and sold others. Lebolo kept an undermined number of mummies for…
