Nerik, a city to the north of…
1533 BCE to 1522 BCE
Nerik, a city to the north of the Hittite capitals Hattusa and Sapinuwa, had, like Hattusa, been founded by Hattic language speakers; in the Hattusa archive, tablet CTH 737 records a Hattic incantion for a festival there.
Under Hattusili I, who reigned from about 1650 BCE to around 1620 BCE, the Nesian-speaking Hittites had taken over Nerik, where they maintain a spring festival called Puruli in honor of its storm god, who is the son of Wurusemu, sun goddess of Arinna.
In it, the celebrants recites the myth of the slaying of Illuyanka.
The weather god is associated or identified with Mount Zaliyanu near Nerik, responsible for assigning rain to the city.
Under the rule of Hantili, Nerik is ruined, very possibly by the barbarian Kaskas, and …