Nerik
 Nerik
Location of Nerik in Turkey
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| Alternate name | Narak |
|---|---|
| Location | Oymaağaç, Vezirköprü, Samsun Province, Turkey |
| Region | Black Sea Region |
| Coordinates | 41°12′25″N 35°25′12″E / 41.207°N 35.420°ECoordinates: 41°12′25″N 35°25′12″E / 41.207°N 35.420°E |
| History | |
| Abandoned | 1200 BC |
| Periods | Hittites |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2005– |
| Archaeologists | Rainer Maria Czichon |
Nerik (Hittite: Nerikka) was a Bronze Age settlement to the north of the Hittite capitals Hattusa and Sapinuwa, probably in the Pontic region. The Hittites held it as sacred to a storm god, who was the son of Wurušemu, sun goddess of Arinna. The weather god is associated or identified with Mount Zaliyanu near Nerik, responsible for assigning rain to the city.
Nerik was founded by Hattic language speakers as Narak; in the Hattusa archive, tablet CTH 737 records a Hattic incantation for a festival there. Under Hattusili I, the Nesian-speaking Hittites took over Nerik. They maintained a spring festival called "Puruli" in honor of its storm god. In it, the celebrants recited the myth of the slaying of Illuyanka.
Under Hantili, Nerik was ruined and the Hittites had to relocate the Puruli festival to Hattusa. As of the reign of Tudhaliya I, Nerik's site was occupied by the barbarian Kaskas, whom the Hittites blamed for its initial destruction.
During Muwatalli II's reign, his brother and appointed governor Hattusili III recaptured Nerik and rebuilt it as its High Priest. Hattusili named his firstborn son "Nerikkaili" in commemoration (although he later passed him over for the succession). When Muwatalli's son Mursili III became king, after seven years Mursili reassigned Nerik to another governor. Hattusili rebelled and became king himself.
Nerik disappeared from the historical record when the Hittite kingdom fell, ca. 1200 BC.
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