Astarte and the Sea (also pAmherst IX or simply the Astarte Papyrus) is an Egyptian hieratic tale, dating from the New Kingdom, which relates a story about the goddess Astarte and her rival Yam.[1][2] Though Astarte and Yam appear to have originated as Canaanite deities, both were, at times, worshipped in ancient Egypt as well.[3][4]
Contents
editYam, a deity who is a personification of the sea, demands tribute from the gods.[5][6] If his demands are not met, he will overrun the "sky, earth, and mountains."[7] Astarte brings tribute from Ptah, Nut, and Renenutet, who were native deities. Yam changes the deal: he wants her as his wife and divine jewelry that would grant him lordship over the world.[6][2]
The conclusion to the tale is inferred from a papyrus fragment which mentions the god Seth, who appears to triumph over Yam.[3]
Scholarship
editInterpretation has been a matter of continuous tweaking and addition.
History
editThis narrative was unnoticed until the photographic edition of Percy E Newberry[8] in 1899,[9] after first mention in 1871.[10]
Epistemic bind
editThe difficulty of study according to Pehal:
On the one hand, we want to identify as precisely as possible these devices “-emically,” i.e., within the frame of reference provided by that culture’s own linguistic or literary practice. On the other hand, to help us achieve this goal, we can rely only on “-etic” hermneutic categories derived from our own theoretical horizon.[11]
References
edit- ^ Kaelin, Oskar (2016-11-22), "Gods in Ancient Egypt", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.244, ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8, retrieved 2024-01-29
- ^ a b Pehal, Martin (2008-09-16). Interpreting ancient Egyptian mythology. A structural analysis of the Tale of the two brothers and the Astarte papyrus.
- ^ a b Moers, Gerald (2010-04-23), Lloyd, Alan B. (ed.), "New Kingdom Literature", A Companion to Ancient Egypt (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 685–708, doi:10.1002/9781444320053.ch31, ISBN 978-1-4051-5598-4, retrieved 2024-01-29
- ^ Kelly, Adrian; Metcalf, Christopher (2021-05-06). Gods and Mortals in Early Greek and Near Eastern Mythology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48024-6.
- ^ Ayali-Darshan, Nogah (2015). "The Other Version of the Story of the Storm-god's Combat with the Sea in the Light of Egyptian, Ugaritic, and Hurro-Hittite Texts". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 15 (1): 20. ISSN 1569-2124.
- ^ a b Moers, Gerald (2010-04-23), Lloyd, Alan B. (ed.), "New Kingdom Literature", A Companion to Ancient Egypt (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 685–708, doi:10.1002/9781444320053.ch31, ISBN 978-1-4051-5598-4, retrieved 2024-01-29
- ^ Shupak, Nili (2006). "'He Hath Subdued the Water Monster/Crocodile': God's Battle with the Sea in Egyptian Sources". Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society Ex Orient Lux. 40.
- ^ Percy E. Newberry, The Amherst Papyri in the Collection of the Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney, London: Quaritch, 1899, p. 47, pl. xix–xxi.
- ^ Pehal 2014, p. 49.
- ^ Birch, Samuel (1871). "Varia". Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache [ZÄS]: 119–120.
- ^ Pehal 2014.
Bibliography
edit- Pehal, Martin (2014-01-01). "Interpreting ancient Egyptian narratives: A structural analysis of the Tale of Two Brothers, the Anat Myth, the Osirian Cycle, and the Astarte Papyrus". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
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