Nerik

Nerik was a Hittite city in north-central Anatolia in the present province of Samsun.

Importance

According to paragraphs § § 50 et seq. althethtitischen the law was Nerik next Arinna and Ziplanda one of the three holy cities ( šiunan URU " Gods City " ), to which was the capital of Hattusa took the place of assembly of the gods early. The cult was the weather god of Nerik, which was the son of God Šulinkatte Hatti and the Sun Goddess of the earth according to local tradition. When his wife the texts Zašḫapuna and as a lover Tešimi call. More revered in Nerik deities were Zababa of Nerik, Telipinu and the river Maraššanta (today Kızılırmak ) and various deities of the place Kaštama.

Location

Hans Gustav Guterbock they localized at the bottom Kızılırmak near Kargı, near the mouth of the Devez in the Kizilirmak. The ruins of the city are, however, likely under the settlement mound Oymaağaç Höyük, about 7 km northwest of Vezirköprü, approximately 50 km southwest of Bafra. For an identification with the mound of Oymaağaç near the Kızılrmak have, among others, J. Yakar, A. and M. Dinçol Forlanini, one of the best connoisseurs of historical geography, pronounced. During a survey of the Freie Universität Berlin in the years 2005 and 2006 were 5 Hittite cuneiform text fragments and seal impressions of the writer Sarini, which is also known from Hattusa and Tarsus found. Since 2007 is excavated with the support of the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the German Research Community on Oymaağaç Höyük headed by Jörg Klinger and Rainer Czichon from the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Free University of Berlin. In fall 2009, more cuneiform texts were recovered that give rise to an identification of the Oymaağaç Höyük with the city of the Hittite kingdom " Nerik " hardly doubt.

History

Nerik was 1450 BC under Hantili II lost to the Kaskäer. The prayer of Arnuwanda I. ( Middle Kingdom ) describes the loss of Nerik to the predatory Kaška who neglect the service of the gods. Arnuwanda and his queen Ašmunikal embarrassed then worship according Hakpiš, which continues to be in Hittite territory. Only under Hattusili III. , The rebellious brother of Muwatalli, Nerik was recaptured ( CTH 81).

Texts that mention Nerik

• CTH 375 ( Prayer of Arnuwanda )
• CTH 81, Apology of Hattusili III.