A number of ritual texts have been handed down from the Hittite capital of Hattusha, written by authors from Kizzuwatna, a region in South-eastern Anatolia. The function and effect of these purification and sacrificial rites, which are often only recorded formulaically, are explained by means of a comparative analysis of the Kizzuwatna Rituals, as they are known, and by drawing on other relevant texts. Using special cathartic techniques, which are applied only to the rituals from Kizzuwatna, it is possible to document an independent Kizzuwatnaic ritual tradition, which found its way into...