Nerik is one of the northernmost cities established by the Bronze Age Hittites in Anatolia (Turkey). Surrounded by unforgiving landscapes and hostile tribes, Nerik is the site of the Hittite New Year and the ancient Purilli Festival.
See also:
Today the town of Oymaağaç Höyük, with a population of under 1700 people, occupies the site of Bronze Age Nerik. The old city is on the east bank of the Kızılırmak River, the longest river entirely in Turkey.
Known as Maraššantiya by the Hittites, the river flows from İmranlı in the northeast. It curves gently around the province to empty into its watershed at the Black Sea South Basin.
See also:
By alluvial deposit it creates the most important delta and wetland ecosystem of the south basin. The area is a protected wetland and bird sanctuary today.
Nerik lies inland about 120 km (74.5 mi) from the Black Sea coast. In the middle and late Bronze Age the town is consistently inhabited, not always by the same people. Nerik is a bone of contention between the Hittites and the warlike mountain Kaska or Kaskians.
See also:
The city is originally a Hattic settlement called Narak. The Hatti people precede the Hittites and become assimilated into Hittite culture.
The Hittites adopt Hatti gods and keep the sanctity of holy towns. As they rise to power, the Hittites hold the city sacred to the Storm God of Nerik. The God's mother is the Sun Goddess of Arinna, a town just north of Hattusa.
See also:
Storm Gods and Weather Gods are commonly associated with mountains and the Storm God of Nerik is no exception. His mountain is Mount Zaliyanu near Nerik.
His deific duty is to supply rain for the city. The Storm God of Nerik is honored in the springtime Purilli (Purili, Purilliya) Festival, the New Year of the Hittites.
See also:
At the Purilli Festival, a big attraction is the acting out of the myth of the dragon Illuyanka. The dragon is slain by Hittite Storm God Tarhunna thanks to a feast laid out by Inara, Goddess of Wild Animals.
Sacrificial offerings are made and a feast prepared. Music is a big part of festivities, described in Hittite texts as an important element of religion. Lyres, lutes, pipes, cymbals, drums, clapping, singing and shouting elevate the mood.
See also:
A type of ritual rattle, the sistrum is a complex instrument in which the movement of certain parts creates a range of musical sounds.
Around the 16th century BCE, the Kaska make a decisive move. They raid and sack Nerik, leaving ruins and looted buildings. As the townspeople flee, the Kaskians take over the town, sit back and thumb their noses at the Hittites.
See also:
From the reign of Hittite King Tudḫaliya I in the early 14th century, Kaskians occupy the city of Nerik. Agriculturalists among them settle the riversides and, like Egypt and Mesopotamia, use the natural fertility created by flooding of the land to produce grain and other essential crops.
Writings from Hattusa attest:
"Because the men of Kaška have taken the land of Nerik for themselves, we are continually sending the rituals for the Storm God in Nerik and for the gods of Nerik from Ḫattuša in the city of Ḫakmišša, (namely) thick-breads, libations, oxen, and sheep."
See also:
The Kaskians are adaptable. If crops fail they hire themselves out as mercenaries. During the reign of Muwatalli II in the late 13th century, the king's brother Hattusili drives out the Kaska and recaptures Nerik for the Hittites.
He rebuilds the city as its governor and High Priest. Along with his military prowess Hattusili is a devout man in serving the Goddess Inanna, whom he credits with saving his life when he was a child.
See also:
Seven years after Muwatalli's son Mursili III becomes Hittite king, Mursili reassigns Nerik to another governor and takes the region of Tumanna into his own holdings.
Outraged, Hattusili incites a rebellion. He deposes his nephew and becomes one of the greatest Hittite kings in history.
See also:
Nerik disappears from public record about the time of the fall of the Hittite Empire. The Kaskians sack Hatussa in 1190 BCE, and the city crumbles into ruin.
By 1187 BCE, the Hittes and most of their allies are gone.
See also: