Contact: Paul Mirecki, Religious Studies, (785) 864-7252
LAWRENCE - An extremely rare 3,000-year-old papyrus scroll will be presented as a gift to the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 18, in Spencer Research Library behind Strong Hall on the KU campus at the conclusion of a conference on ancient manuscripts.
John Ballard, a 1973 KU alumnus, and his wife Cindy are donating the scroll, which they bought on a whim during a charity auction benefitting the Kansas City, Mo., public library.
The Ballards, of Overland Park, last year asked Paul Mirecki, KU associate professor of religious studies, to evaluate the scroll, which turned out to derive from priestly circles associated with the famous Temple of Amun complex in Thebes, Upper Egypt.
The scroll dates to between 850 B.C. and 1,050 B.C. when scrolls of this particular type were in vogue. It contains both artistic images in black ink and sacred hieroglyphic writing in red ink, and measures about 3 1/2 feet long by 10 inches high. The scroll was originally placed in a Theban nobleman's tomb and was a religious guidebook (called the "Amduat") ensuring resurrection and afterlife, similar to the famous Egyptian "Book of the Dead."
John Ballard, Mirecki, and Richard Clement, special collections librarian at Spencer Library, will join other KU officials at the presentation ceremony.
Leading scholars from the U.S., Australia, England and Greece, at KU for a conference focusing on similar ancient Egyptian manuscripts also will attend.
For more information, contact Mirecki at (785) 864-7252 or pmirecki@ku.edu, or the Department of Religious Studies at (785) 864-4663.