The Weather god of Nerik is a Hittite weather god, who was mainly worshipped in the Hittite city of Nerik, whose cult was relocated to Kaštama and Takupša for two hundred years after the Hittites lost Nerik to the Kaskians.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 102 & 104. He was also referred to as Nerak or Nerikkil.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 44.
In ancient Anatolia, weather gods were the rulers of the sky and the mountains. They cast down the thunder, lightning, clouds, rain and storms.Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 228. The weather god of Nerik was also worshipped as a sender of rain,Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 54. and as a fertility deity.Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 224.
In the official Hittite state pantheon, the Weather god of Nerik was considered the son of the Weather god of Ḫatti and the Sun goddess of Arinna.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 91. However, at his cult centre in Nerik he was instead considered to be the son of the Hattian god Šulinkatte and Wurušemu, the Sun goddess of the Earth (eventually syncretized with Hattian Lelwani).Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 236.
The partner of the Weather god of Nerik was the goddess , the Lady of the Palace.Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 56. During droughts, the winter and after the harvest, it was said that the Weather god of Nerik was asleep in Tešimi's lap.Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 234. In Nerik, Tešimi was also considered to be the partner of the god Telipinu.Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Göttingen 2011, p. 235.
After the return of the Weather god of Nerik from exile in Kaštama, his statue was worshipped in his temple in Nerik, along with the image of the goddess , the city goddess of Kaštama. This does not necessarily mean that they were considered to be a couple since the Weather god of Nerik was already partnered with the goddess Tešimi and Zašḫapuna also had a partner already, the mountain god .Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 104.
References
Bibliography Volkert Haas, Heidemarie Koch: Religionen des alten Orients: Hethiter und Iran. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, . Piotr Taracha: Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, .