ABSTRACT
In 1993, Jean-Marie Durand published a letter from Mari containing a prophecy of the storm-god of Aleppo that refers to the combat between the storm-god and the sea. The storm-god Adad mentions that he gave the weapons with which he defeated the sea to the Zimri-Lim, the king of Mari. The interpretation of the Mari letter that follows will reveal how context specific the combat myth's meaning could be. Zimri-Lim's rise to king-ship over Mari cannot be dissociated from the disintegration of the kingdom that Samsi-Addu built in the area of the upper Euphrates a generation earlier. The prophetic letters excavated at Mari are consistent with the evidence from the seals. The dynastic history of Mari in the first section of Adad's prophecy also conveys the message that Zimri-Lim depends upon Yamhad for his kingship. The king of Mari named his second regnal year "The year Zimri-Lim dedicated his statue to Adad of Aleppo.".
