Being rebuilt, the gods of the city found shelter in nearby Utruna, where Hattu

sili III celebrated the purulli(ya) festival for them (see 3.2.6).°' 3

The Storm-god ultimately returned to Ms traditional seat in Nerik, but Ms cult

had changed during the two htmdred years in exile."’ 44 With Mm came the divin-

Ities of Kastama, a city where he had found respite in the meantime. In the temple

Of the Storm-god bis Image stood on one pedestal with that of Za(s)hapuna, chief

goddess of Kastama,’’ 4 '’' which does not necessarily mean that the two were treated

As a divine pair. The beloved of the Storm-god of Nerik was Tesimi, while Za(s)ha-

puna’s consort was the Mountain-god Zaliyanu' 47 (see also 3.1.1). Standing oppo-

Site the Storm-god was a figure of the goddess Halki made to Order of Muwat

Talli II. 548

Halki also had her own old sanctuary. New temples were erected for the Storm-

God of Zahalukka, War-god Wurunkatte (?) (his name is concealed under the logo-

Gram ZAB ABA), Storm-god of Heaven (whose temple was rebuilt in the reign of

549

Tuthaliya IV), and LAMMA god who shared his sanctuary with Telipinu.' 1 Za(s)ha-

Puna also had her own temple where offe rings were made during the harpiya festi

val to her and a local hypostasis of the Sun-goddess of Arinna with the epithet ‘Mother

Of the Earth,’ DINGIR.MAH and goddesses from her circle, as well as the Marassanta/

Kissilirmak and other rivers.“ 50 Ea and Damkina and deities from their circle were

EXTB 42.100 i 17’, iii 22’ ([grandjfather of His Majesty), 32’, iv 13’(?), 38’, a document of tb.e time

Of Tuthaliya IV, mentions Muwattalli (II) in Connection with the new Organization of the cult of

Gods from Nerik at Utruna; see Hazenbos 2003; 16ff,

L See now Corti 2006.

KUB 42.100 iv Ifyff., Hazenbos 2003: 20, 24. See also del Monte 1978: Haas 1994a: 6961; Popko

A: 149.

I For the local pantheon of Nerik, see Haas 1970: 6?£f,; 1994a: 597fi; 1998—20016: 230f.

3 KBo 2.4 ii 33ff., Haas 1970: 83, 278f£.; 1994a: 598.

Cf. KUB 36.89 rev. 56f., Haas 1970: 1400:. See also Popko 1995a: 147.

t, Hazenbos 2003: 20£, 24.

;enbos 2003: 14ff. Cf. also KUB 27.68 iv l’ff., Haas 1970: BOOff.

Ff,, Yoshida 1996: 207; Garcia Trabazo - Groddek 2005: 103; Taracha 2007b:

ies in the temple of Za(s)hapuna, see also KBo 54.150 10'ff. with its duplicate

|:

The Empire Period 105

Also worshiped at Nerik in the late period. 00 The cult of the mountain Haiiarwa

Suggests that- at least some of the old gods worshiped earlier in Takupsa returned

To Nerik. The local pantheon now also included divinities from nearby centers. like

The Storm-god of Zahalukka, and Luwian deities like Huwattassi/Huwadissi for

example, 0 "" testifying indirectly to the migration of Luwian population groups from |

The south. Innovations were introduced in the cult practice itself, such as burnt-

Offerings (ambassi) to the Storm-god of Nerik during the festival of the month. 003

In the local tradition the Storm-god of Nerik was the son of the Sun-goddess of

The Earth and Sulinkatte, a god belonging to the layer of ancient Hattian beliefe, jj

especially in the north. 0 ' 1 But in the case of reconquered Nerik, this tradition need

Not have been much older than the official ooncepts of the court theologians from

The tiraes of Hattusili III, according to which the Storm-gods of Nerik and Ziplanda

Were considered the sons of the Storm-god of Haiti and the Sun-goddess of Arin-

I

Na (see 3.2.1), The Sun-goddess of the Earth, who also passed for the mother of

The Storm-god of Ziplanda in the same period (the father in this case was the Storni- X

God of Heaven), was worshiped initially in the Hurrianized Luwian milieu in Kizzu-

Watrsa (3.2.4), Yet, her cult in central Anatolia, attested among others in Ankuwa, I

Katapa and other eitles in the Zuliya/Qekerek basin (see above), may date even to j

The Old Hittite period. 656 j

A certain text describing a cult-related journey of a prince to Zalpa provides in- j

Formation on the deities worshiped in this town in the second half of the thirteenth

■ v; 557 - I

Century BC. One of the local temples belonged to the goddess Ammama. A myth

about three goddesses of the same name living in the sea can also fae linked with \