Summary: This article revisits the question of why some of the prophetic letters from Mari refer to the enclosure of the prophet’s hair and fringe, and others do not – that is, why secondary verification was required or expected for some prophets and not for others. A thorough examination of the evidence demonstrates that the hair and fringe were enclosed quite disproportionately in the cases of the female prophets and of the assinn¯u, whose gender role differed from their society’s hegemonic masculinity. The women and assinn¯u together thus comprise the category of the “not-men”. Other deviations from the ideal of manhood, such as sickness, may also have been factors. Social rank and prophetic titles, however, were not. The numerical data show that the only statistically significant factor is the division along gender lines.

Summary: This article focuses on the storyline of CTH 344: the Song of Going Forth (‘Song of Kumarbi’, ‘Theogony’, etc.). By going through the text bit by bit, reconsidering specific lines, sections and events in the context of the song as a whole in the process, new interpretations of individual parts as well as of the overarching narrative of the text are proposed. Most importantly, on the basis of the identification of various figures with unusual names (DA.GILIM, DKA.ZAL and DNAM.H ˇ ´E) as the storm-god and a reinterpretation of lines ii 71–75, it is suggested that the storm-god plays a much larger role in the song than is commonly assumed.

Summary: This article includes an extended analysis of pNarm. 22.11.1998 [TM 117885], which was originally edited by A. Jones. The detailed commentary of the papyrus is followed by a chapter on the cultural and historical significance of the astral sciences in Graeco-Roman Egypt and reflections on the transmission of this knowledge between Mesopotamia and Egypt.