Weather god of Nerik

The weather gods of Nerik is a Hittite weather deity that their Hauptverehrungsort in the Hittite city Nerik had, whose cult for two hundred years but after Kaštama and Takupša was moved when the Hittites Nerik the Kaskians had lost. He was also known under the name Nerak or Nerikkil .

In ancient Anatolia, weather gods were lords of the sky and the mountains. They sent thunder, lightning, clouds and rain as well as storms. He was a weather god of the younger generation who mainly served as a rain donor and thus as a vegetation deity.

In the official state pantheon, the weather god of Nerik was considered the son of the weather god of Ḫatti and the sun goddess of Arinna . However, in his cult city Nerik he was not considered the son of the highest Hittite pair of gods, but as the son of the Hattic god Sulinkatte and the sun goddess of the earth .

The goddess Tešimi , the mistress of the palace, was believed to be the mistress of Nerik's god of weather . During dry seasons, in autumn or after the harvest, the weather god of Nerik slept in the lap of the Tešimi. In Nerik, Tešimi was also considered the lover of the god Telipinu .

After the return of the weather god of Nerik from exile in Kaštama, the image of the weather god was venerated in his temple in Nerik together with the image of the goddess Zašḫapuna , the city goddess of Kaštama. But that does not necessarily mean that the two deities formed a couple, because the weather god of Nerik already had the goddess Tešimi as a lover, so Zašḫapuna already had a partner. This was the mountain god Zaliyanu .

literature

• Volkert Haas , Heidemarie Koch : Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-51695-9 .
• Piotr Taracha : Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05885-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 104.
2. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 102.
3. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 44.
4. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 228.
5. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 228.
6. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 54.
7. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 224.
8. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 91.
9. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 236.
10. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 56.
11. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 234.
12. ↑ Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religions of the ancient Orient: Hittites and Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 235.
13. ^ Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 104.