Astarte and the Insatiable Sea

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

Yam, 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

Interpretation has been a matter of continuous tweaking and addition.

History

This narrative was unnoticed until the photographic edition of Percy E Newberry^[8] in 1899,^[9] after first mention in 1871.^[10]

Epistemic bind

The 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]