Cumorah - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cumorah (also known as Mormon Hill, Gold Bible Hill, and Inspiration Point) is a drumlin

Drumlin

A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín , first recorded in 1833, is an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine.-Drumlin formation:...

in Manchester, New York

Manchester (town), New York

Manchester is a town in Ontario County, New York, USA. The population was 9,258 at the 2000 census. The town was named after one of its villages, which in turn was named after the original Manchester in Greater Manchester, England....

, where Joseph Smith, Jr. said he found a set of gold plates which he translated into English and published as the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

.

In the text of the Book of Mormon, "Cumorah" is a hill located in a land of the same name, which is "a land of many waters, rivers and fountains". In this hill Book of Mormon figure Mormon deposited a number of metal plates containing the record of his nation of Nephite

Nephite

According to the Book of Mormon, a Nephite is a member of one of the four main groups of settlers of the ancient Americas. The other three groups are the Lamanites, Jaredites and Mulekites. In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites were a group of people descended from or associated with Nephi, the...

s, just prior to their final battle with the Lamanite

Lamanite

According to the Book of Mormon, a Lamanite is a member of a dark-skinned nation of indigenous Americans that battled with the light-skinned Nephite nation...

s in which at least 230,000 people were killed.

Early Latter Day Saints

Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

assumed that the Cumorah in New York was the same Cumorah described in the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

, but in the early-20th century, scholars from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

(RLDS Church) and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) began to speculate that there were two such hills and that final battle in the Book of Mormon took place on a hill in southern Mexico, Central America, or South America. The LDS Church has no official position on the matter and these hypotheses are not held by some leaders and members of the LDS Church but firmly espoused by others.

New York

The hill named Cumorah in Manchester, New York

Manchester (town), New York

(coordinates: 43.0062°N 77.224°W) is thought to be where Smith discovered the gold plates which contained the writings of the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

. Smith wrote: "On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box."

Smith visited the hill each year on September 22 between 1823 and 1827 and was instructed by a "holy messenger", who Smith identified as Moroni. Smith was finally allowed to take the record on September 22, 1827. Eleven other men

Book of Mormon witnesses

The Book of Mormon witnesses are a group of contemporaries of Joseph Smith, Jr. who said they saw the golden plates from which Smith said he translated the Book of Mormon...

gave written testimony that they had also seen them and held them in their hands.

The hill, which was unnamed prior to 1829, is situated a few miles from Joseph Smith's boyhood home on a farm that was then owned by a local farmer, Alonzo Sanders. This farm was 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Palmyra

Palmyra (town), New York

Palmyra is a town in Wayne County, New York, USA. The population was 7,672 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the ancient city Palmyra in Syria....

, on the main road toward Canandaigua

Canandaigua (city), New York

Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census...

from Palmyra to Manchester, and is not far from Carangrie Creek and the Clyde River. According to geologists, the hill was formed during the retreat of the Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

glaciers, and it rises approximately 110 feet (33.5 m) above the surrounding valley floor.

Since 1829, the Latter Day Saints have called the hill "Cumorah", and local non-Mormons have called it "Mormon Hill" or "Gold Bible Hill". The hill has also been called "Inspiration Point". The hill and surrounding land was purchased in the 1920s by the LDS Church under the direction of Church President

President of the Church (Mormonism)

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...

Heber J. Grant

Heber Jeddy Grant was the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was ordained an apostle on October 16, 1882, on the same day as George Teasdale...

. The transaction involved two separate purchases: the purchase of the "Inglis farm"; and the purchase of the "Sexton farm". The Inglis farm consisted of 96 acres (38.8 ha) on both sides of the Canandaigua–Palmyra road and encompassed one third of the western edge of the hill. The 187 acres (75.7 ha) Sexton farm was purchased from the heirs of Pliny T. Sexton, who owned the "Mormon Hill farm" encompassing the remainder of the hill.

The LDS Church has constructed a monument that is topped with a gold statue of the Angel Moroni on the top of the hill, and there is a visitor's interpretative center at the base of the hill.

Nephites

In the Book of Mormon, Cumorah is mentioned in six verses, five in Chapter 6 and one in Chapter 8 of a subpart of the book, which is also known as the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon (Mormon's record)

The Book of Mormon is the name of a book, or division, in the larger Book of Mormon. This "inner" book has nine chapters. According to the text, the first seven chapters were written by the prophet Mormon and the last two by his son Moroni...

. According to the record, Mormon

Mormon (prophet)

Mormon is believed by followers of Mormonism to have been the narrator of much of the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which describes him as a prophet-historian and a member of a tribe of indigenous Americans known as the Nephites...

is the caretaker of the records of his people, which are written on gold plates. His people, called the Nephite

Nephite

s, were near to being destroyed by the Lamanite

Lamanite

According to the Book of Mormon, a Lamanite is a member of a dark-skinned nation of indigenous Americans that battled with the light-skinned Nephite nation...

s who had had many previous wars with the Nephites. Mormon wrote to the leader of the Lamanites to ask that he may gather his "people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle." Cumorah is described as being in a land with "many waters, rivers, and fountains".

The leader of the Lamanites agreed, and all of the Nephites gathered together, including their women and children. Mormon wrote, "And when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away [since the sign of the birth of Christ], we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah." Mormon then hid all of the records of his people in the hill, except for the plates that he was currently writing on, which he gave to his son Moroni

Moroni (prophet)

The Angel Moroni is an angel that Joseph Smith, Jr. said visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source material for the Book of Mormon, buried in a hill near...

.

The Lamanites then attacked the Nephites, who were led by twenty-three men each with ten-thousand men under their command. Mormon recorded that all but 24 of the Nephites had been killed, "even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me", except for those who fled to the south or defected to the Lamanites.

Mormon then records his mourning for his people and a last message to those who will read his record later, then again turns the unburied records over to his son Moroni. Moroni records, "after the great and tremendous battle at Cumorah, behold, the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites, until they were all destroyed. And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people."

Jaredites

This hill, known as "Cumorah" among the Nephites, was called "Ramah" by the Jaredites:

In the Book of Mormon, during the time of the Book of Alma

Book of Alma

The Book of Alma is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The full title is The Book of Alma: The Son of Alma. The title refers to Alma the Younger, a prophet and "chief judge" of the Nephites.-Historical Outline:...

, this land (of Cumorah) was part of the land of Desolation, "the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken". This land is identified as being north of the land of Zarahemla

Zarahemla

Zarahemla is the name of a prominent land, a capital city, and a leader in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is revered by members of various Latter Day Saint churches as sacred scripture....

.

Moroni lived several years after recording the destruction of his people. He translated and abridged the plates which were the record of the Jaredite

Jaredite

The Jaredites are a people written of in the Book of Mormon, principally in the Book of Ether. In the Book of Ether, the Jaredites are described as the descendants of Jared and his brother, at the time of the Tower of Babel. According to the Book of Mormon, the people fled across the Ocean via...

s as the Book of Ether

Book of Ether

The Book of Ether is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The Book of Ether tells of an ancient people , descendants of Jared and his companions who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Babel...

on to the plates that he was keeping. During this process, he wrote, "Omer ... passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed," and "... it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr

Coriantumr

In the Book of Mormon, Coriantumr is the name of three figures that appear throughout the book's narrative. Chronologically, these three are: one of the sons of Omer, a deposed Jaredite king later restored to his throne by his sons Esrom and Coriantumr; the last of the Jaredite kings, who lived to...

did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred." These passages identify the Nephite hill Cumorah as the same hill where the Jaredites had fought their final battle.

Geography and historicity

Since the early-20th century, there has been discussion within the Latter Day Saint movement

Latter Day Saint movement

about whether Hill Cumorah in New York is the same place described in the Book of Mormon, or whether there are two hills of the same name—one in New York and one in either Southern Mexico, Central America, or South America. Mormon archeologists overwhelmingly favor the "two Cumorahs" theory, while conservative theologians and some leaders prefer the view that only one Cumorah exists. Some non-Mormon scholars have provided alternative theories for the origin of the name Cumorah.

New York hill

At least ten different accounts refer to certain events that occurred at the hill Cumorah in New York. According to the account of Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

, the angel instructed Joseph Smith to carry the gold plates back to the hill Cumorah. When Smith and Oliver Cowdery

Oliver Cowdery

Oliver H. P. Cowdery was, with Joseph Smith, Jr., an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836, becoming one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates, one of the first Latter Day Saint apostles, and the Second Elder of...

arrived, "the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room." The account continues by saying they found "more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls." When they first entered, the Sword of Laban was hanging on the wall. When they re-entered later, the Sword of Laban was unsheathed and resting on top of the newly delivered gold plates. The sword had an inscription on it that said the sword "will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." It has been suggested by Mesoamerican Cumorah advocates that these events occurred in a vision rather than a physical visit.

There has been no on-site archaeological research at Cumorah in New York.

Cerro Vigia

Mormon scholars have proposed the "Cerro Vigia" (coordinates: 18°33′N 95°11′W or 18°27′25"N 95°21′01"W ) in Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, as the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

for a variety of reasons. John L. Sorenson

John L. Sorenson

John L. Sorenson is an emeritus professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University and the author of An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon as well as many other books and articles on the Book of Mormon and archaeology.Sorenson first did archaeological work in Mesoamerica while...

has listed 15 cultural criteria for the hill Cumorah which are based on contextual clues from the text of the Book of Mormon: cities, towers, agriculture, metallurgy, formal political states, organized religion, idolatry, crafts, trade, writing, weaponry, astronomy, calendar systems, cement, and wheels. Sorensen alleges that the hill in New York at least partly fits four of these requirements while the Cerro Vigia meets all of them.

Alternative origin of the name

Some scholars have theorized that Smith created the name "Cumorah" through his study of the treasure-hunting stories of Captain William Kidd

William Kidd

William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...

. Because Kidd was said to have buried treasure in the Comoros

Comoros

The Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar...

islands, it has been suggested that Smith used the name of the islands and applied it to the hill where he found buried treasure—the gold plates. Complementing this proposal is the theory that Smith borrowed the name of a settlement in the Comoros—Moroni

Moroni, Comoros

-References:...

—and applied it to the angel which led him to the gold plates.

Mormon apologists

Mormon apologetics

Mormon apologetics is the systematic defense of Mormonism against its critics. Notable Latter-day Saint apologists include early church leaders such as John Taylor, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage and modern scholars such as Hugh Nibley, Orson Scott Card, and Jeff Lindsay...

have argued that this line of argument commits the logical error of appeal to probability

Appeal to probability

An appeal to probability is a justification based on probability, sometimes regarded as a logical fallacy, when an unwarranted assumption that something will happen, because it can happen, or when the odds of an occurrence are unrealistically played down in lieu of appropriate precaution.Although a...

. They also point out that it is highly unlikely that Smith had access to material which would have referred to the then-small settlement of Moroni, particularly since it did not appear in most contemporary gazetteers. However, other Mormon authors have suggested that the ancestors of the Nephite people may have encountered the Comoros islands on their initial voyage from the Arabian Peninsula to the western hemisphere, and that the Nephite civilization therefore may have retained a collective knowledge of the names "Comoros" and "Moroni".

Mainstream archaeological view

Mainstream scholars who specialize in 19th-century American literature place the original literary setting for the Book of Mormon among the mythic mound builder people of North America. Accepting the mound-builder setting, at least one Mormon researcher has pointed out that no Central or South American setting for the Book of Mormon is likely to be accepted by mainstream academia as a legitimate source of Joseph Smith's gold plates. Coon cites non-Mormon archaeologist Salvatore Trento, who posits the possibility that Smith actually discovered buried metal tablets engraved with "weird markings". Trento notes comparable discoveries in Northeastern America which Coon points out are not likely the result of a singular ancient individual traveling thousands of miles from Central or South America to Upstate New York. According to Trento, such finds are consistent with the 19th-century "mound builder" literary setting in which the Book of Mormon is classed by non-Mormon specialists.

Pageant

Currently, the 283 acres (1.1 km²) site near Palmyra, New York

Palmyra (town), New York

Palmyra is a town in Wayne County, New York, USA. The population was 7,672 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the ancient city Palmyra in Syria....

, hosts the annual "Hill Cumorah Pageant". This large, outdoor Latter-day Saint pageant

Latter-day Saint pageant

This list of pageants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delineates those annual outdoor theatrical performance produced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is reminiscent of early Christian Pageants which reenacted the world history in processional...

typically occurs in early July and is free to the public.

The pageant can trace its history back to 1935. The current title, America's Witness for Christ, was first used in 1937. This was a play by H. Wayne Driggs

H. Wayne Driggs

H. Wayne Driggs was the son of Howard R. Driggs and his wife Eva F. Driggs.Driggs studied at the University of Utah and New York University. He wrote the script used in the 1937 Hill Cumorah Pageant, which was the first year the pageant was produced. He was a professor at NYU at that time...

that remained the basic text of the pageant until 1987. The 1987 revision, which is still used, was written in large part by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

External links

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