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Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ;
Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...
: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the
Ugaritic texts The Ugaritic texts are a corpus of ancient cuneiform texts discovered in 1928 in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, and written in Ugaritic language, Ugaritic, an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic langua ...
. Most researchers assume that she originated in the
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
culture of
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the regio ...
, and that the goddess Ḫanat, attested in the texts from Mari and worshiped in a city sharing her name located in
Suhum Suhum (Sūḫu, or Suhi) was an ancient geographic region around the middle course of the Euphrates River, in modern Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, "New Light on the Land of Sūḫu: A Review Article and new Political H ...
, should be considered her forerunner. In
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
, Anat was one of the main goddesses, and regularly received offerings, as attested in texts written both in the local
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
language and in
Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
. She also frequently appears in myths, including the '' Baal Cycle'' and the ''
Epic of Aqhat The Tale of Aqhat or Epic of Aqhat is a Canaanite myth from Ugarit, an ancient city in what is now Syria. It is one of the three longest texts to have been found at Ugarit, the other two being the Legend of Keret and the Baal Cycle. It dates ...
''. In the former, she is portrayed as a staunch ally of the
weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
, who assists him in his struggle for kingship, helps him with obtaining the permission to obtain a dwelling of his own, and finally mourns and avenges his death at the hands of the personified death, Mot. The precise nature of the relation between Anat and Baal is uncertain, and the conventional views that they were lovers, siblings or both remain a matter of dispute among researchers. Another deity who frequently appears alongside her is
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
. Interactions between Anat and the sun goddess
Shapash Shapshu (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun") or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are ''nrt ...
and moon god
Yarikh Yarikh (Ugaritic: , , "moon"), or Yaraḫum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East. He is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities. His primary cul ...
are described in myths as well. In Hurrian ritual texts, she appears alongside deities such as
Šimige Šimige was the Hurrian sun god. Known sources do not associate him with any specific location, but he is attested in documents from various settlements inhabited by the Hurrians, from Kizzuwatnean cities in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alala ...
,
Aštabi Aštabi (, ''aštb''), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion of the Hittite Empire. ...
and
Nupatik Nupatik, in early sources known as Lubadag, was a Hurrian god of uncertain character. He is attested in the earliest inscriptions from Urkesh, as well as in texts from other Hurrian settlements and Ugarit. He was also incorporated into Hittite rel ...
. Elsewhere in the
Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
and in nearby regions of inland Syria, Anat's status apparently was not equally high, though she is nonetheless attested in
Emar Emar (, ), is an archaeological site at Tell Meskene in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. It sits in the great bend of the mid-Euphrates, now on the shoreline of the man-made Lake Assad near the town of Maskanah. It has been the sourc ...
, Hazor and elsewhere. At some point in time in the Bronze Age, either during the reign of
Hyksos The Hyksos (; Egyptian language, Egyptian ''wikt:ḥqꜣ, ḥqꜣ(w)-wikt:ḫꜣst, ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''heqau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt ( ...
or shortly after its end, Anat was introduced to
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, and achieved a degree of prominence during the reign of
Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...
, whose devotion to her is well attested. Evidence for Egyptian worship of Anat is also available from various sites in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
which were controlled by the pharaohs in the Bronze Age. She remained a part of the Egyptian pantheon as late as in the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
period. In the first millennium BCE, she also continued to be worshiped in Suhum in Mesopotamia. She is also attested in a number of Phoenician inscriptions. Most of them come from
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. They indicate that on this island an association developed between her and the Greek goddess
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
based on their similar character. The only references to Anat in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Kingdom of Israel. Anat was characterized as a
fertility goddess A fertility deity is a god or goddess associated with fertility, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and crops. In some cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences; in others they are more abstract symbols. Fertility rites may a ...
associated with human sexuality in early scholarship, but despite the occasional modern support, this view is no longer the consensus among experts. Proposed etymologies of her name and interpretations of texts she appears in are a subject of criticism. The view that goddesses of Ugarit and other nearby areas were interchangeable and had no individual traits, which often shaped early publications about Anat, is also no longer accepted.


Origin

According to Wilfred G. Lambert, Anat should be identified with the goddess Ḫanat (a transcription without the
breve A breve ( , less often , grammatical gender, neuter form of the Latin "short, brief") is the diacritic mark , shaped like the bottom half of a circle. As used in Ancient Greek, it is also called , . It resembles the caron (, the wedge or in ...
below the first consonant, Hanat, is also in use) known from the texts from Mari, and originally worshiped further south, in
Suhum Suhum (Sūḫu, or Suhi) was an ancient geographic region around the middle course of the Euphrates River, in modern Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, "New Light on the Land of Sūḫu: A Review Article and new Political H ...
. While Jean-Marie Durand argues against this connection, and his view has also been adopted by Lluís Feliu, Lambert's theory has been accepted by a number of other researchers, including Wilfred G. E. Watson, Gebhard J. Selz,
Volkert Haas Volkert Haas (1 November 1936 – 13 May 2019) was a German Assyrologist and Hittitologist. __NOTOC__ Life Volkert Haas studied Assyrology and Near Eastern archaeology at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Marburg from 1963 to ...
and Daniel Schwemer. Multiple
Assyriologists Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...
, including
Andrew R. George Andrew R. George (born 1955) is a British Assyriologist and academic best known for his edition and translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Andrew George is Professor of Babylonian, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle E ...
and Julia M. Asher-Greve, outright refer to the goddess from Suhum, still worshiped there in later periods, simply as Anat, and it has been pointed out that her name, while originally rendered as Ḫanat in documents pertaining to this area, is written as ''an-at'' in inscriptions of local origin from the first millennium BCE. In the light of Lambert's theory, Anat, like her presumed forerunner Ḫanat, would be an
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
deity in origin. Multiple
etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
of Anat's name have been proposed. While none have been conclusively proven, the view it is a
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of the
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word ''‘anwat'', "force" or "violence," is considered plausible. Peggy L. Day notes that this proposal and the view that Anat and Ḫanat are analogous "dovetail" each other. Lambert assumed that Ḫanat's name could refer to the Ḫanaeans (Ḫana), an Amorite group. Similarly, Durand derives it from ''ḫana'', which he considers to be a label analogous to
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
. However, Ḫanat's homonymous cult center apparently was not located in the lands considered the territory of the Ḫanaeans.


Older theories

A number of proposals regarding the origin of Anat's name are no longer considered plausible in modern scholarship due to relying entirely on incorrect past evaluations of her character. One such example is Ariella Deem's suggestion that it was derived from a purely hypothetical
root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
''*’nh'', "to make love." While in the past scholarship Anat was described as a "patroness of wanton love," or as a "
fertility goddess A fertility deity is a god or goddess associated with fertility, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and crops. In some cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences; in others they are more abstract symbols. Fertility rites may a ...
," these views started to be challenged in scholarly publications in the 1990s and are no longer accepted today by most researchers. Sometimes similar labels can nonetheless be found even in more recent publications. Jo Ann Hackett notes that the connection between fertility and female deities has been historically exaggerated in the studies of religions of the
Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...
and considers such a characterization an example of perceiving women "in terms of biological functions" formed largely based on contemporary speculation, rather than on the available ritual texts and other primary sources. Julia M. Asher-Greve notes this category is one of the examples of terms which should be considered "innovations of early modern work in the study of
comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...
" rather than an accurate reflection of religion in antiquity. It has been pointed out by other authors that in Anat's case, alleged references to a connection with fertility depend on dubious translations of
hapax legomena In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written record of an entire ...
and filling of lacunae. According to Theodore J. Lewis, one such attempt is Edward Lipiński's treatment of the text KTU 1.96, meant to present her as a sexually active "fertility" goddess Michael C. Astour remarked critically that Lipiński's translation explained "practically every noun by '
penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...
'" to accomplish this. More recent research revealed that the text does not mention Anat at all.


Ḫanat in the Mari texts

The worship of Ḫanat is well attested in texts from
Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...
Mari. She was particularly venerated in the land of
Suhum Suhum (Sūḫu, or Suhi) was an ancient geographic region around the middle course of the Euphrates River, in modern Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, "New Light on the Land of Sūḫu: A Review Article and new Political H ...
, where a city named Ḫanat (later
Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...
) was located. Its name could be written with the
dingir ''Dingir'' ⟨⟩, usually transliterated DIĜIR, () is a Sumerian word for 'god' or 'goddess'. Its cuneiform sign is most commonly employed as the determinative for religious names and related concepts, in which case it is not pronounced and ...
sign preceding it (''dḪa-na-atki, Bit dḪa-na-atki''), which indicates it was directly named after the goddess. It has been identified with modern
Anah Anah or Ana (, ), formerly also known as Anna, is an Iraqi town on the Euphrates approximately midway between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Persian Gulf. Anah lies from west to east on the right bank along a bend of the river just before it tu ...
in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. One of the Mari texts mentions a temple of Ḫanat, presumed to be located in the city named after her. Later documents from Suhum indicate that a
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
dedicated to the local goddess bore the ceremonial Sumerian name E-šuzianna, "house, true hand of heaven." The tradition of assigning such names of houses of worship originated in southern
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
among the Sumerians and
Akkadians The Akkadian Empire () was the first known empire, succeeding the long-lived city-states of Sumer. Centered on the city of Akkad ( or ) and its surrounding region, the empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule and exercised ...
, but it outlived the decline of Sumerian as a
vernacular language Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...
, and spread to other areas within the Mesopotamian cultural sphere, including
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
and the basin of the
Diyala River The Diyala (Arabic: ; ; Farsi: , ) is a river and tributary of the Tigris. It is formed by the confluence of the Sirwan and Tanjaro rivers in Darbandikhan Dam in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of Northern Iraq. It covers a total distance of . ...
in the north, the kingdom of Mari and the city of
Harran Harran is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. ...
in the west and to a smaller degree
Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...
in the east.
Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...
of
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
patronized the temples of the city of Ḫanat according to a later inscription of Ninurta-kudurri-usur, son of the local ruler Šamaš-reš-uṣur known from a
stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
found in Babylon. In an offering list from the reign of
Zimri-Lim __NOTOC__ Zimri-Lim was in the Middle Bronze Age the king of Mari, Syria, Mari (c. 1767–1752 BCE; low chronology). Background Family Zimri-Lim (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''Zi-im-ri Li-im'') was the son or grandson of king Yahdun-Lim of Ma ...
, Ḫanat appears as the recipient of two
sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
. The same document lists a number of other deities worshiped in Mari, such as
Numushda Numushda (, '' dnu-muš-da'') was a Mesopotamian god best known as the tutelary deity of Kazallu. The origin of his name is unknown, and might be neither Sumerian nor Akkadian. He was regarded as a violent deity, and was linked with nature, espe ...
,
Ishara Ishara may refer to: * Išḫara, a Hurrian deity *Ishara, a small town in Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It is bordered to the south by Lagos State and the Bight of Benin, to the east by Ondo State, and to the n ...
and
Ninkarrak Ninkarrak (, '' dnin-kar-ra-ak'') was a goddess of medicine worshiped chiefly in northern Mesopotamia and Syria. It has been proposed that her name originates in either Akkadian or an unidentified substrate language possibly spoken in parts of m ...
. Oil offerings to Ḫanat were apparently made by women from the royal palace. She is the last of the eight deities mentioned in a list presumed to document this custom. The formula " Dagan and Ḫanat are well" occurs in a letter from Buqāqum, a royal official active in Ḫanat. A legal text mentions that a certain Pulsī-Addu from Sapīratum (a settlement in Suhum) after losing a lawsuit meant to establish the ownership of a patch of land was obliged to swear an oath by a group of deities including Ḫanat, as well as Dagan and
Itūr-Mēr Itūr-Mēr was a Mesopotamian god worshiped in the kingdom of Mari, and after its fall in the kingdom of Khana, especially in Terqa. His name is structured like a theophoric name rather than a typical theonym, which lead to the proposal that he w ...
, and by king Zimri-Lim to guarantee that he will not attempt to press the same claims again. Ḫanat's presence in this text most likely simply reflects the fact that she was associated with the area which was the object of the conflict, while Dagan and Itūr-Mēr were respectively the head of the local pantheon and the god most commonly invoked in oaths. Ḫanat is also mentioned in a letter from Šamaš-nasir, an official from
Terqa Terqa is an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. Its name had b ...
, to Zimri-Lim, in which he relays an
oracular An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...
declaration of Dagan to the king. Its subject is a verdict pronounced by the local god for
Tishpak Tishpak (Tišpak) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the ancient city Eshnunna and its sphere of influence, located in the Diyala area of Iraq. He was primarily a war deity, but he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mu ...
, the god of the kingdom of
Eshnunna Eshnunna (also Esnunak) (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Althou ...
, after Yakrub-El relays to him that Ḫanat is threatened by the latter's actions. The interactions between the gods reflect the political situation of the period, with Dagan representing Mari and Yakrub-El and Ḫanat respectively Terqa and Suhum, while Tishpak stands for Eshnunna, whose troops presumably were a threat for the latter of the two dependencies of Zimri-Lim's kingdom. Ḫanat appears in four types of
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
s of women and ten types of names of men in the Mari texts. Some of the attested bearers of such names were deportees from the area roughly between Mount Abdulaziz and the
Sinjar Mountains The Sinjar Mountains (, , ), are a mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surrounding alluvial steppe plains in northwestern Iraq to an elevation of . The highest segment of these mountains, about long, lies in the Nineveh Gov ...
. A certain Ḫabdi-Ḫanat was at one point tasked with manufacturing a throne for Dagan in Mari itself. An individual bearing the name Ummi-Ḫanat is also attested outside this corpus, but it is presumed that the text, even though it mentions Eshnunna, pertains to Suhum.


Anat in the Ugaritic texts

Anat was one of the main goddesses in the pantheon of
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
, a city located in the north of modern
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
on the
Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eu ...
whose religion was closely related to that of Mari. According to the
Ugaritic texts The Ugaritic texts are a corpus of ancient cuneiform texts discovered in 1928 in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, and written in Ugaritic language, Ugaritic, an otherwise unknown Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic langua ...
, Anat resides on a mountain known under the name ‘Inbubu, whose location remains unknown. An association between her and Mount Saphon, while also known, is infrequently attested. In the standard
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
list of deities, she is placed between
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
and
Shapash Shapshu (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun") or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are ''nrt ...
. In the analogous text written in syllabic
cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
, her name is rendered as ''da-na-tu4''. In Ugarit Anat was regarded as a warrior goddess, though she was not the only deity cast in this role. She is described using both a sword and a bow. Additionally, sources such as KTU 1.114 and KTU 1.22 attest that she was portrayed as a huntress as well. However, Theodore J. Lewis points out that due to relying on an incorrect collation of the tablet KTU 1.96, a number of older publications overestimated the degree to which Anat was portrayed as belligerent by ascribing
cannibalistic Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well documente ...
tendencies to her. Lewis' conclusion is also accepted by other researchers today. In reality, as discovered during the digitalization of Ugaritic texts currently stored in
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, the text does not mention the goddess at all, as it is not plausible that ''‘nn'' is a mistake for ''‘nt''. The older reading was based not on inspection of the object itself, but rather on an old photo which from a modern perspective is "washed out and epigraphically useless." While the meaning of the rest of the text remains uncertain, Gregorio del Olmo Lete suggests that it might be an incantation against the casting of an
evil eye The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures i ...
(''‘nn hlkt''). This proposal is also accepted by Gebhard J. Selz. It has been pointed out by multiple authors, including Peggy L. Day and Mark Smith, that the fact that Anat engages in pursuits which in Ugaritic culture were viewed as typically masculine, namely warfare and hunting, constitutes "gender inversion" of the
roles A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indi ...
human women were expected to take in society. Less formally, Dennis Pardee labeled her as a "
tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...
goddess," a characterization also employed by Izak Cornelius. In response to her threat, El describes Anat so: "I know you, my daughter, that you are a manly sort, and that none are emotional as you."The Context of Scripture I p 348 § Ilu Caves In , "Various interpretations of his description... Pardee 1986 It has been suggested that Anat was also regarded as a " mistress of animals," in part based on pendants from Ugarit showing a goddess depicted in the pose associated with this archetypal motif, but this view is not universally accepted. Textual sources describe Anat as winged and capable of flight, which is commonly employed to identify possible depictions of her among the works of art from Ugarit. One possible example is a
cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...
showing a winged goddess in a helmet decorated with horns and a knob, standing on a bull and holding a lion. However, it cannot be established with certainty that every winged goddess depicted on a seal found in modern Syria is necessarily Anat. It is possible that due to the influence of iconography of Mesopotamian
Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
, other local goddesses could be depicted with wings too. Some researchers, among them Silvia Schroer, employ terms such as "Anat-
Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
type" when describing figures depicted in art to mitigate this problem.


Epithets

It has been postulated that the character of Ugaritic deities is well reflected in the
epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
s applied to them. In Anat's case the most frequently occurring one is ''btlt'', which is also overall the second best attested divine epithet in the entire Ugaritic corpus, after ''‘ali’yn b’l'' (''aliyn Baal''; "Baal the mighty"). As of 2008, it has been identified in a total of forty nine passages. Its exact translation was a subject of scholarly controversy in the past, though today it is most commonly rendered as "
maiden Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
" in English. Other proposals include "virgin," "girl" and "adolescent." However, it is now agreed that the term, even if translated as "virgin," does not refer to
virginity Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereo ...
in the modern sense, but simply designates her as young and nubile. The proposal that ''btlt'' had a more precise meaning, "young woman who did not yet bring forth male offspring," is considered baseless. An Akkadian
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
, ''batultu'', occurs chiefly in legal contexts, and it has been pointed out that while it does refer to a woman's age, it appears to be used "without prejudice to her sexual or marital status." Aicha Rahmouni points out that while the Akkadian evidence does imply a woman referred to as a ''batultu'' would likely be expected to be chaste according to
social norms A social norm is a shared standard of acceptance, acceptable behavior by a group. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social norma ...
of the period, there is no indication that Ugaritic deities were bound by identical norms. She proposes that the use of ''ardatum'', similarly conventionally translated as "maiden" (in order to refer to various goddesses in Mesopotamia), offers a close semantic parallel. A further well attested epithet of Anat is ''ybmt l’imm'', known from ten passages, but there is no consensus regarding its translation. The element ''l’imm'' is usually interpreted as a common noun meaning "peoples" or "nations," though Dennis Pardee treats it as the name of a deity, analogous to Lim which is known from theophoric names from Mari. However, according to Alfonso Archi the element ''lim'', while theophoric, should be treated simply as a religious understanding of the concept of the
clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
or similar traditional social structure. Its persistence in known sources might only reflect a pastoralist lifestyle (or memory of it) which relied on the social bonds denoted this way. References to Lim are uncommon in Ugaritic texts, and the presumed deity shows no apparent connection to Anat. A single passage in the text KTU 1.108 refers to Anat as ''gṯr'', possibly "the powerful." According to Rahmouni ''gṯr'' is most likely a scribal mistake for the feminine form ''gṯrt'', while Dennis Pardee proposes that in this case it is an otherwise unattested
noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...
, "
power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...
," instead of the adjective well known from other texts. An entire sequence of otherwise unknown epithets is listed in the following verses of the same tablet: "the mistress of kingship" (''b’lt mlk''), "the mistress of dominion" (''b’lt drkt''), "the mistress of the high heavens" (''b’lt šmm rmm'') and "the mistress of the ''kpṯ''" (''b’lt kpṯ''), whose enumeration is a poetic parallelism and is meant to highlight the position and authority of the goddess in the local pantheon. The ''mlk-drkt'' word pair is also known from other poetic contexts. It has also been suggested that the parallelism of the terms ''drkt'' and ''šmm rmm'' might be reflected in the names
Derketo Atargatis (known as Derceto by the Greeks) was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Primarily she was a fertility goddess, but, as the ''baalat'' ("mistress") of her city and people she was also responsible for their prot ...
and
Semiramis Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...
known from
late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...
sources. Gebhard J. Selz remarks that despite one of these epithet associating her with the heavens, Anat was never regarded as an
astral deity The worship of heavenly bodies is the veneration of stars (individually or together as the night sky), the planets, or other astronomical objects as deities, or the association of deities with heavenly bodies. In anthropological literature these ...
. Rahmouni suggests the word ''kpṯ'' is most likely a cognate of Akkadian ''kupšu'', a type of
headdress Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or fo ...
which is also mentioned in divine epithets. Gregorio del Olmo Lete instead argues that its probable meaning is "
firmament In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separates the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament ( ''rāqīaʿ'') is the vast solid dome created by God during the G ...
", based on the parallel with ''šmm rmm'', and that its Akkadian cognate would be ''kabāsu'', "to trample." Rahmouni argues the latter proposal is improbable because parallel epithets do not need to be semantically analogous, and additionally because Ugaritic ''ṯ'' typically corresponds to Akkadian ''š'', not ''s'', making both the translation and the proposed cognate difficult to accept. This view is also supported by Dennis Pardee, who additionally remarks that Anat's association with the ''kpṯ'', which he vocalizes as ''kupṯu'', might mirror her link to the
atef Atef () is the specific feathered white crown of the ancient Egyptian deity Osiris. It combines the Hedjet, the white crown of Upper Egypt, with curly ostrich feathers on each side of the crown for the Osiris cult. The feathers are identified a ...
crown in
Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...
sources.


Worship

In an offering list described as "Sacrifice to the gods of Mount Saphon," which possibly documents rites which took place over the course of the two months following the
winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...
, ''‘Iba’latu'' and ''Ḫiyyāru'' (roughly corresponding to the period between the 21st of December and the 20th of February according to Dennis Pardee), Anat is the recipient of rams, similar to many other deities listed, such as Shapshu,
Arsay Arsay (Ugaritic: ''‘arṣy'') was a goddess worshiped in the city of Ugarit in the late Bronze Age. Her standing in the Ugaritic pantheon and her role in Ugaritic religion remain uncertain. It has been proposed that she was associated with th ...
,
Išḫara Išḫara was a goddess originally worshipped in Ebla and other nearby settlements in the north of modern Syria in the third millennium BCE. The origin of her name is disputed, and due to lack of evidence supporting Hurrian or Semitic etymolog ...
and
Kinnaru Kinnaru (, ''knr'') was an Ugaritic god who functioned as the deification of a string instrument, most likely the lyre. He is sparsely attested in the Ugaritic texts, appearing only in a handful of god lists and offering lists. He is entirely abs ...
. Another ritual text mentions the sacrifice of multiple bulls and rams to Anat. Additionally, a
burnt offering A holocaust is a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire, also known as a burnt offering. The word derives from the ancient Greek ''holokaustos'', the form of sacrifice in which the victim was reduced to ash, as distingui ...
of a bull and a ram to "Anat of Ṣaphon" is singled out near the end of the tablet. Anat of Saphon receives the same offering according to another source, listing the sacrifices made to her, as well as
Ilib Ilib (also known as ''eni attanni'') was an Ugaritic god most likely regarded as a primordial deity. As a generic term, the word ''ilib'' seemingly also referred to spirits of ancestors. The god and the concept were most likely connected with each ...
, El,
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
and
Pidray Pidray (, ''pdry'') was an Ugaritic goddess of uncertain character. She is first attested as an Amorite deity in a bilingual Mesopotamian lexical list, but she is otherwise almost exclusively from Ugaritic texts. While she is well attested in thi ...
, in the temple of Baal. In the same source she is also the recipient of a bull and a ram as a peace offering, in this passage appearing alongside Ilib, two Baals (of Ugarit and of
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
),
Yarikh Yarikh (Ugaritic: , , "moon"), or Yaraḫum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East. He is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities. His primary cul ...
, Pidray and
Dadmiš Dadmiš (, ''ddmš'') or Tadmiš (''dta-ad-mi-iš'') was a goddess worshipped in Ugarit. She is attested in texts written both in Ugaritic and in Hurrian. Her origin and functions remain unknown. Identification The earliest researchers did not ye ...
. In an entry ritual (an
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
practice well known from Mari) of
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
, which took place over the course of multiple days, Anat received the snout and neck of an unidentified animal following the offerings of gold and silver to Shapash, Yarikh and Gaṯaru on the second day. However, there is no indication that the label ''Gaṯarūma'' (which appears to describe the other three deities) also applied to her. Seventeen individuals bearing
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
s invoking Anat have been identified in known Ugaritic texts, one among them being a king of nearby Siyannu. This makes her the second most popular goddess in that regard after Shapash, present in the names of sixty-six individuals. The element ''ʾilat'' ("goddess;" attested as an epithet of both Athirat and Anat) occurs more often, with a total of twenty-two attestations, but it is not certain if it refers to a specific deity. At the same time, Wilfred H. van Soldt remarked that Anat appears in theophoric names much less frequently than her importance in myths would indicate.


Hurrian ritual texts

Anat is also present in Hurrian offering lists from
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
, according to Daniel Schwemer, possibly because she had no close equivalent among the
Hurrian deities The Hurrian pantheon consisted of gods of varied backgrounds, some of them natively Hurrian religion, Hurrian, while others adopted from other pantheons, for example Religion in Ebla, Eblaite and List of Mesopotamian deities, Mesopotamian. Like th ...
, unlike other well-attested members of the local pantheon. In one of them, she receives a ram after
Aštabi Aštabi (, ''aštb''), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion of the Hittite Empire. ...
(a warrior god) and
Šimige Šimige was the Hurrian sun god. Known sources do not associate him with any specific location, but he is attested in documents from various settlements inhabited by the Hurrians, from Kizzuwatnean cities in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alala ...
(the sun god). In another similar list she is instead preceded by
Nupatik Nupatik, in early sources known as Lubadag, was a Hurrian god of uncertain character. He is attested in the earliest inscriptions from Urkesh, as well as in texts from other Hurrian settlements and Ugarit. He was also incorporated into Hittite rel ...
. She also appears in a Hurrian ritual dealing with the
anointing Anointing is the ritual, ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, ...
of deities, which otherwise only mentions members of the Hurrian pantheon. Texts from Ugarit attesting to the worship of Ugaritic deities such as Anat, alongside Hurrian ones, have been argued to indicate that the two traditions functionally merged and that the religious life of the city was " transcultural."


Attested and proposed associations with other deities

It is agreed that a close connection existed between Anat and
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
, but its nature continues to be disputed. Past scholarship is commonly criticized for speculation about her presumed status as his wife. No evidence exists for a spousal relationship between Anat and any other deity in the Ugaritic texts, while possible indications of sexual relations with other deities, or lack of them, are not interpreted uniformly. Daniel Schwemer accepts the possibility that individual texts might allude to sexual encounters between Baal and Anat, but concludes that the weather god "did not have a wife in any real sense." Mark Smith argues that while there is no direct evidence for these two deities being viewed as a couple in the Ugaritic texts, the matter should be left open due to the scarcity of sources and possible evidence from other Northwest Semitic-speaking areas (postdating the period covered by the Ugaritic corpus) and Egypt, though a skeptical approach should be retained. Regardless of Anat's relation to Baal, there is no evidence that she was ever regarded as the mother of his daughters attested in Ugartic tradition (
Pidray Pidray (, ''pdry'') was an Ugaritic goddess of uncertain character. She is first attested as an Amorite deity in a bilingual Mesopotamian lexical list, but she is otherwise almost exclusively from Ugaritic texts. While she is well attested in thi ...
,
Tallay Tallay (, ''ṭly'') was an Ugaritic goddess associated with the weather, especially with dew and light rain. She is sparsely attested in known Ugaritic texts, and does not appear in offering lists, though it is nonetheless assumed she was activ ...
and
Arsay Arsay (Ugaritic: ''‘arṣy'') was a goddess worshiped in the city of Ugarit in the late Bronze Age. Her standing in the Ugaritic pantheon and her role in Ugaritic religion remain uncertain. It has been proposed that she was associated with th ...
). Ugaritic texts also refer to Anat to as Baal's sister, though Aicha Rahmouni notes that it has been called into question if they were envisioned as biologically related. She points out that there is evidence, including an epithet directly referring to that relation, that Baal was regarded as the son of Dagan, who never occurs in association with Anat. She is consistently called a daughter of El instead, with Athirat being presumed to be her mother. If the disputed role of Baal and Anat as lovers is accepted, the words "sister" and "brother" might be used in a figurative sense to refer to them in that capacity. It is also possible that all members of the Ugaritic pantheon were referred to as siblings in a less direct sense, as members of a single social group.
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
frequently appears in Ugaritic texts alongside Anat, and the pairing of these two goddesses has been described as "fairly standard." An
incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...
against
snakebite A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may ...
refers to them together as Anat-wa-Ashtart and states that both of them resided on the mountain Inbubu (''inbb''), otherwise associated only with Anat, while Ashtart was instead believed to dwell in Mari. Another similar text similarly invokes them together, after the pairs Baal and Dagan and
Yarikh Yarikh (Ugaritic: , , "moon"), or Yaraḫum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East. He is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities. His primary cul ...
and
Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , ''Rašap'', , ''ršp'', Egyptian ', , ''ršp'', ''Rešep̄'') was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of ...
. The importance of Ashtart is considered secondary compared to Anat in these sources and in the broader corpus of Ugaritic texts. However, Dennis Pardee stresses that while closely associated, the goddesses were not fused together. The
trilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monoling ...
Sumero- Hurro-Ugaritic version of the
Weidner god list Weidner god list is the conventional name of one of the known ancient Mesopotamian lists of deities, originally compiled by ancient scribes in the late third millennium BCE, with the oldest known copy dated to the Ur III or the Isin-Larsa period. ...
from Ugarit treats Anat, whose name is repeated in both of the latter columns, as analogous to the
Mesopotamian god Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', a ...
Saĝkud, who belonged to the circle of either
Ninurta Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord fGirsu"), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was f ...
or Anu. The name of this deity might be derived from an ordinary Sumerian noun, which possibly referred to a type of official, specifically a
tax collector A tax collector (also called a taxman) is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations on behalf of a government. The term could also be applied to those who audit tax returns or work for a revenue agency. Tax collec ...
. Modern researchers often compare Anat to deities such as the Mesopotamian
Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
and
Annunitum Annunitum (; also romanized as Anunītu) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with warfare. She was initially an epithet of Ishtar of Akkad exemplifying her warlike aspect, but by the late third millennium BCE she came to function as a distinc ...
and the Hurrian
Šauška Šauška (Shaushka), also called Šauša or Šawuška, was the highest ranked goddess in the Hurrian pantheon. She was associated with love and war, as well as with incantations and by extension with healing. While she was usually referred to as ...
. However, Jo Ann Hackett critically evaluated presenting the character of Anat and Inanna as identical. It has been suggested that Ba’alat Bahatīma, "lady of the houses" (or "of the temple," "of the palace"), might be an epithet of Anat. However, it has also been proposed that she was a distinct deity. The meaning of the name was possibly analogous to Mesopotamian Belet Ekallim. Ba’alat Bahatīma might have also been a title of a different Ugaritic goddess, possibly Pidray or Athirat. A further deity sometimes argued to be identical with Anat is Rahmay, known from KTU 1.23, a myth about Shahar and
Shalim Shalim (Šalām, Shalem, ) is a god in Canaanite religion, mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, ..The names Shahar_(god).ht ...
. However, evidence in favor of this theory is absent from any known Ugaritic texts. A minor deity named ''ṯmq'', who might correspond to Mesopotamian Sumuqan, is described as "warrior of Anat" (''mhr ‘nt'') in two passages.


Mythology

Anat appears in multiple Ugaritic myths, where she is typically portrayed as the main ally of
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
. Theodore J. Lewis based on these texts has characterized her as "without doubt the most vivid of the Ugaritic goddesses."


''Baal Cycle''

Anat is portrayed in her usual role in the ''Baal Cycle'', a well known Ugaritic narrative poem preserved on the tablets KTU 1.1–6. Sometimes, labels such as ''Baal-Anat cycle'' are used to refer to this work. Anat is first mentioned when El summons her to perform a ritual whose precise character is uncertain, but which according to John Gibson might have been meant to prevent her from actively supporting Baal. Later, when Yam, Baal's rival for the position of king of the gods, sends his messengers to the divine assembly, Anat and
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
prevent the weather god from harming them. She seizes his right hand (KTU 1.2 I 40), while the other goddess - seizes his left hand. This passage is one of the multiple identified examples of poetic parallelism, employing the names of Anat and Ashart side by side. Subsequently Anat appears in the section of the story focused on Baal striving to be granted a permission to have a palace built for himself. She apparently confronts a human army in a passage which remains poorly understood. Afterwards, the messengers of Baal, Gapnu (also spelled Gupan) and Ugar, approach her, which makes her worried if a new enemy is challenging Baal's authority, prompting her to recall battles she took part in previously (KTU 1.3 III 36 - 47). Among the enemies she lists are Yam, listed twice (once under his main name and once as Nahar), Tunnanu (a
sea serpent A sea serpent is a type of sea monster described in various mythologies, most notably in Mesopotamian cosmology (Tiamat), Ugaritic cosmology ( Yam, Tannin), biblical cosmology (Leviathan, Rahab), Greek cosmology (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scy ...
), further serpentine sea monsters (''bṯn ‘qltn'', "the twisting serpent" and ''šlyṭ d šb ‘t r’ašm'', "the dominant one who has seven heads"), Arsh (''‘arš''; possibly also a sea monster), Atik (''‘tk'', the " calf of El" or alternatively the "divine calf," Ḏabību (''ḏbb''; described as a daughter of El and presumed to be demonic in character), and Ishatu (išt'', flame, a female demon described as dog-like, possibly representing a concept analogous to dogs of individual deities known from Mesopotamian god lists such as ''
An = Anum ''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the ...
''). Wayne T. Pitard points out that the inclusion of Yam among Anat's defeated adversaries is difficult to explain, as a well known section of the narrative focuses on Baal, rather than her, defeating the
sea god A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anoth ...
. According to Pitard, the reference might indicate the existence of a separate tradition which is otherwise not preserved in known texts. After learning that the source of Baal's anguish is not a new enemy but the lack of his own dwelling, Anat disrespectfully attempts to pressure El to grant Baal the permission to have a palace built for himself (KTU 1.3 V 27–32). She fails in this effort. Subsequently she assists the latter god in convincing
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
to act as a mediator on his behalf. On the way to the sea shore where Athirat can be found, they apparently discuss an event during which Baal was dishonored in some way, possibly by Yam. The details are unclear and parts of the text are missing. When Athirat notices that they are approaching, she reacts with fear or anger (KTU 1.4 II.12–21); the scene has been summarized as "a stereotyped response to bad news." However, her mood improves when she realizes that Anat and Baal bear gifts for her, and do not intend to smite her or any other deities. Anat asks her on Baal's behalf to implore El to grant the permission she was herself unsuccessful at obtaining earlier (KTU 1.4 III 33-36). She then seemingly joins Athirat and her servant Qodesh-wa-Amrur in their journey to El's dwelling. This interpretation has been questioned in the past, but the fact that Anat knows about the decision before Baal and later relays it to him is regarded as evidence in its favor. It is still possible that Anat is not present when the verdict itself is pronounced by El. After Baal's death at the hands of Mot, Anat mourns him. She also shows concern about the fate of the people (KTU 1.6 I 6).
Shapash Shapshu (Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎔𐎌 ''špš'', "sun") or Shapsh, and also Shamshu, was a Canaanite sun goddess. She also served as the royal messenger of the high god El, her probable father. Her most common epithets in the Ugaritic corpus are ''nrt ...
, the sun goddess, is the first to notice her despair when she discovers the body of Baal, and helps her bring the deceased weather god to Mount Saphon for his burial. Afterwards, Anat announces Baal's death to El, who decides that it will be necessary to appoint a substitute king. She also remarks that the situation will make Athirat rejoice (KTU 1.6 I 39-43), either due to the presumed antagonism between her and Baal or because she will be able to display her authority by appointing a different god to fill his place. The surviving sections pose a problem for interpreters, as apparently even though Anat has previously buried Baal, she is actively looking for him afterwards. It has been suggested that she only buried a substitute, rather than the real Baal. When the story resumes after the coronation of a temporary king,
Attar Attar, also known as ittar, is an essential oil derived from botanical or other natural sources. Most commonly these oils are extracted via hydrodistillation or steam distillation. Attar can also be expressed by chemical means but generally n ...
, followed by a large lacuna (estimated to be around 30 lines), Anat threatens Mot. She kills him, and subsequently threshes his remain with a blade, winnows them with a
sieve A sieve (), fine mesh strainer, or sift is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet m ...
, burns them in a fire, grinds them with a
millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...
, and finally scatters them for birds to eat. It has been argued that this scene reflected an annual agricultural ritual. According to John Gibson this is unlikely, as Anat's actions are simply meant to illustrate that the destruction of Mot was complete and thorough. In a later section of the myth, when El learns in a dream that Baal is alive, he tells Anat to call Shapash to look for him. The sun goddess reassures Anat that she will try to find him, and receives a blessing in return. The rest of the column is missing. In the final surviving fragment of the text, which establishes that Baal gained El's favor and his position was no longer threatened, Anat is mentioned by Mot ( resurrected after their earlier confrontation)), who complains to the weather god about his treatment at her hands.


''Epic of Aqhat''

Another long Ugaritic narrative work, the ''Epic of Aqhat'' (KTU 1.17-19), also features Anat, though for the most part it focuses on humans rather than gods. Many details of the plot are uncertain due to the state of preservation of the tablets. The eponymous character is the son of a legendary king,
Danel Danel (, Ugaritic: 𐎄𐎐𐎛𐎍 DNỈL, " El is judge"), father of Aqhat, was a culture hero who appears in an incomplete Ugaritic text of the fourteenth century BCE at Ugarit (now Ras Shamra), Syria. Tale of Aqhat The text in ''Corpus Ta ...
. At an early point in the narrative, Danel's son receives a bow from the craftsman god
Kothar-wa-Khasis Kothar-wa-Khasis (), also known as Kothar or Hayyānu, was an Ugaritic god regarded as a divine artisan. He could variously play the roles of an architect, smith, musician or magician. Some scholars believe that this name represents two gods, ...
. Anat apparently desires to obtain it and asks the human to give it to her, but she is rebuked. It is not clear if Aqhat's reaction to her demand (''ht tṣdn tỉnṯt''; KTU 1.17 VI 40) should be interpreted as a question ("now do womenfolk hunt?") or an ironic remark ("now womenfolk hunt!"). Anat demands permission to punish him for what she perceives as impiety from El, which the senior god grants her. She invites Aqhat to a hunt, but in secret she orders a certain Yatipan (described as a "
Sutean The Suteans ( Akkadian: ''Sutī’ū'', possibly from Amorite: ''Šetī’u'') were a nomadic Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, specifically in the region of Suhum, during the Old Babylonian period. They w ...
warrior") to kill him. However, as a result of his assault the bow is broken, which enrages Anat further. Aqhat's body is subsequently devoured by
birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...
, and unnamed messengers inform Danel that Anat is complicit in his disappearance. The rest of the narrative apparently deals with Aqhat's burial and the revenge of his sister Pughat against Yatipan, who at one point mistakes her for Anat and starts boasting about his recent endeavors. Surviving fragments indicate that Anat herself does not face repercussions.


Other myths

Due to the presence of the word ''btlt'', which is a very common epithet of Anat, it has been proposed that a verse from '' Epic of Keret'' (KTU 1.15 II 27) refers to her as a wetnurse of Yaṣṣib, the eponymous king's son, but the name of the goddess is only a restoration of a lacuna. In the past, it was proposed that Shapash or one of the
Kotharat Kotharat (, ''kṯrt'') were a group of seven goddesses associated with conception, pregnancy, birth and marriage, worshiped chiefly in the northern part of modern Syria in the Bronze Age. They are attested in texts from Mari, Ugarit and Emar. Th ...
might be meant instead. Steve A. Wiggins calls the evidence mustered in favor of the former view "compelling," and notes that the only problem is the lack of other texts where the sun goddess is described as a ''btlt''. The same composition is also one of the texts attesting that Anat was regarded as beautiful. Comparisons to her appearance could be employed to praise the beauty of literary characters, in this case Huray, a mortal princess. The term usually employed to highlight this quality of Anat is ''n’mt'', a superlative form of ''n’m'', which can mean "good" or "beautiful" depending on context. This term was also applied to the moon god
Yarikh Yarikh (Ugaritic: , , "moon"), or Yaraḫum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East. He is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities. His primary cul ...
(''n’mn ‘lm'', "most handsome of the gods;" ''n’mn'' is the masculine form of the same word). Anat appears alongside
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
in KTU 1.114. During a banquet organized by El, Yarikh, who in this composition behaves like a dog, possibly due to engaging in
alcohol consumption Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...
, receives pieces of meat from her and Ashtart. The goddesses are subsequently rebuked by a nameless servant of El, who complains that they offer choice cuts of meat to a dog. Anat and Ashtart are also referenced again in one of the final lines of the tablet. According to Mark Smith's interpretation,. the reference presumably indicates that they are seeking the ingredients needed to cure El's
hangover A hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects usually following the consumption of alcohol (beverage), alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than ...
caused by his drunkenness. The drunkenness is described in the same myth.


Egyptian reception

It is commonly assumed that Anat was introduced to
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
by the
Hyksos The Hyksos (; Egyptian language, Egyptian ''wikt:ḥqꜣ, ḥqꜣ(w)-wikt:ḫꜣst, ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''heqau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt ( ...
, who settled there during the
Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period dates from 1700 to 1550 BC. It marks a period when ancient Egypt was divided into smaller dynasties for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a Secon ...
. They ruled the
Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...
for approximately one century, with
Avaris Avaris (Egyptian: ḥw.t wꜥr.t, sometimes ''hut-waret''; ; ; ) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta. As the main course of the Nile migrated eastward, its po ...
serving as their capital. Richard H. Wilkinson cites the name of the ruler
Anat-her Anat-her (also 'Anat-Har) may have been the first ruler of the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt, reigning over some part of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period as a vassal of the Hyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty. Jürgen von Beckerath: ...
as evidence for the Hyksos worshiping Anat. However, according to Christiane Zivie-Coche, the attestations of this goddess tied to the Hyksos are limited to a single theophoric name. She suggests that available evidence instead indicates that foreign deities from the north, such as Anat, only came to be commonly worshiped in Egypt during the subsequent reign of the
Eighteenth Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...
. She proposes that recovering the former Hyksos territory increased the frequency of interactions with various cultures of the
Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eu ...
and the broader
Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...
, among them
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
. This in turn led to more foreign influences finding their way into Egyptian religion, culture and language. As of 2011, there was no material evidence for the presence of Anat in religious contexts before the reign of
Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...
. Other deities sharing her origin, such as
Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , ''Rašap'', , ''ršp'', Egyptian ', , ''ršp'', ''Rešep̄'') was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of ...
and Haurun, had already appeared in records dating further back, to the times of
Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called Amenophis II and meaning "Amun is Satisfied") was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few military campaigns i ...
. In the past, it was often argued that the worshipers of foreign deities were chiefly
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
brought to Egypt, but textual sources instead indicate that the pharaohs, the
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
of
Ptah Ptah ( ; , ; ; ; ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god, and a patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertem. He was also regarded as the father of the ...
and ordinary citizens could all be involved in their veneration. Two temples dedicated to Anat have been identified in Egypt, one in
Tanis Tanis ( ; ; ) or San al-Hagar (; ; ; or or ; ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the northeastern Nile Delta of ancient Egypt, Egypt, and the location of a city of the same name. Tanis ...
(part of the temple complex of
Mut Mut (; also transliterated as Maut and Mout) was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt. Her name means ''mother'' in the ancient Egyptian language. Mut had many different aspects and attributes that changed and evolved greatly over th ...
) and another as the
Temple of Hibis The Temple of Hibis is the largest and best preserved ancient Egyptian temple in the Kharga Oasis, as well as the only structure in Egypt dating to the Saite-Persian period (664–404 BCE) which has come down to modern times in relatively good c ...
in the
Kharga Oasis The Kharga Oasis ( , ) ; , "Oasis of Hib", "Oasis of Psoi") is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Western Desert, about 200 km (125 miles) to the west of the Nile valley. "Kharga" or "El Kharga" is ...
. The Egyptians also built a temple dedicated to her in
Beisan Beit She'an ( '), also known as Beisan ( '), or Beth-shean, is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is believed to be one of the oldest citie ...
during the reign of
Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC, and he is considered the last pharaoh of the New K ...
. Izak Cornelius additionally lists a festival of Anat celebrated in Gaza alongside the attestations connected to the Egyptian reception of this goddess It is known from an Egyptian
ostracon An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...
dated to the thirteenth century BCE, a copy of a letter from a scribe named Ipuy to a certain Bak-en-amun, a garrison host commander. It describes the state of affairs in the area under his supervision, but details of the festival of Anat are not preserved. While a further Egyptian artifact presumed to come from Gaza is connected to the worship of Anat, it might not be authentic. It is a situla mentioning Anat in an inscription. Egyptian
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
s invoking her are also known, one example being Anat-em-heb, "Anat in her festival", constructed in an analogous way to similar names invoking native deities such as
Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...
or
Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...
. Anat is characterized as warlike in Egyptian sources, similar to Ugarit. She was also called "the mistress of heaven." It has been argued that this title might be related to her epithet known from the Ugaritic text KTU 1.108, ''b’lt šmm rmm'', 'mistress of the high heavens.' In visual arts, she was portrayed wearing the
atef Atef () is the specific feathered white crown of the ancient Egyptian deity Osiris. It combines the Hedjet, the white crown of Upper Egypt, with curly ostrich feathers on each side of the crown for the Osiris cult. The feathers are identified a ...
, a type of crown associated with
Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...
, and wielding either a spear and a shield, a fenestrated battle axe, or possibly the was-scepter. However, this utensil is better attested in association with
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
. It has been pointed out that ancient Egyptians typically depicted deities introduced from other areas according to local norms, and their attributes more directly reflected their character rather than their origin. The
pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
Ramesses II was particularly devoted to Anat, according to Wilkinson, because of her warlike character. He referred to himself as the "beloved" of this goddess and called her his mother. His inscriptions generally assign warlike traits to her rather than motherly ones. A statue from his reign depicts Anat with her hand placed on his shoulder. It comes from a temple located in Tanis. Both the goddesses and the pharaoh are identified in an accompanying inscription. He also named one of his daughters ( Bint-Anat, "daughter of Anat"), his war hound ("Anat is strength") and his sword after the goddess. One of his successors, Ramesses III, referred to Anat as the goddess responsible for protecting him in battle. Anat retained her role in the Egyptian pantheon through the first millennium BCE, up to the period of
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
rule. She is also among the deities depicted in the
Dendera Temple complex The Dendera Temple complex (Ancient Egyptian: ''Iunet'' or ''Tantere''; the 19th-century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni, was Tentyra; also spelled Denderah) is located about south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the be ...
from the Roman period. She also appears on a stele in Greco-Roman style alongside
Khonsu Khonsu (; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons, Khonshu, or Konshu; ) is an ancient Egyptian god of lunar deity, the Moon. His name means 'traveller', and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon across the sky. Al ...
and Mut.


Anat, Ashtart and Qetesh

The association between Anat and
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
is well attested in Egypt, and it is presumed that it was a direct adaptation of northern ideas about these two goddesses. Both of them could be regarded as daughters of Ra or
Ptah Ptah ( ; , ; ; ; ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god, and a patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertem. He was also regarded as the father of the ...
. However, they are not always explicitly described as sisters. The myth ''Contest of Horus and
Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...
for the Rule'', dated to the period of the
New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
, is assumed to refer to both Anat and Astarte as prospective brides of Set. This interpretation has been questioned in
Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...
since the 1970s. Objections to the translation were also raised in Ugaritic studies: Neal H. Walls suggested in 1992 that interpreting this text might involve a misunderstanding. According to Mark Smith, as of 2014, no evidence has been provided to settle the academic dispute in favor of this view. Anat and Ashtart appear alongside a third goddess,
Qetesh Qetesh (also Qodesh, Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš or Qades ) was a goddess who was incorporated into the ancient Egyptian religion in the late Bronze Age. Her name was likely developed by the Egyptians based on the Semitic r ...
, in the inscription on the so-called "
Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
stele", which depicts only one figure, despite three names being listed. This object has been used to argue that Qetesh, like the other two deities, had to be a major goddess in a similar area of ancient Syria. In particular, attempts were made to identify her with
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
based on the incorrect view that she, Anat, and Ashtart were the three major goddesses of Ugarit. This theory disregards the position of Shapash in the city's pantheon. Additionally, while Anat and Ashtart do appear together in Ugarit, there is no parallel group that would also include Athirat. A different proposal is to treat the three goddesses equally. However, Peggy L. Day points out that before the
Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
, there is no other evidence for the merging of Anat with other goddesses in the Egyptian tradition. The evidence is limited to this single work of art, which she considers to be unusual. Christiane Zivie-Coche rejects the view that Qetesh was a hypostasis of Anat (or Ashtart), or even a goddess of Syrian origin at all. She instead agrees with the proposal that Qetesh was a goddess who developed in Egypt, even though her name is derived from a root known from
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...
, ''qdš''. Izak Cornelius characterizes the importance assigned to the stela in past scholarship as "exaggerated". Additionally, as early as 1955, at the time of its original publication, it has been pointed out that the inscription would indicate that the author was not fully familiar with the hieroglyphic script. This led Cornelius to tentatively propose that the inscription might be a
forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...
. The
provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...
of the stela remains unknown, and it is now lost.


Other Bronze Age attestations

Anat was worshiped in
Emar Emar (, ), is an archaeological site at Tell Meskene in the Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria. It sits in the great bend of the mid-Euphrates, now on the shoreline of the man-made Lake Assad near the town of Maskanah. It has been the sourc ...
, a city located on the banks of the
Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
in modern Syria, though her importance there was small, especially in comparison with her status in Ugarit. The earliest academic survey of the deities mentioned in the corpus recovered from this site was prepared by
Gary Beckman Gary Michael Beckman (born 1948) is a noted Hittitologist and Professor of Hittite and Mesopotamian Studies at the University of Michigan. He has written several books on the Hittites: his publication ''Hittite Diplomatic Texts'' and ''Hittite Myth ...
and published in 2002. It did not include Anat at all, though in 1996 there was identified a possible reference to a
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
derived from her name. The proposal that a
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
invoking her, Anat-ummī, in present the text Emar 216:6 (and passim) is also accepted today. Mark Smith notes that the nature of the Emar corpus needs to be taken into account when evaluating the prominence of deities in the local system of beliefs, as relatively few genres of texts are represented among tablets from the site. William W. Hallo and Hayim Tadmor identified a possible reference to Anat in theophoric names in a lawsuit from
Tel Hazor Tel Hazor (), translated in LXX as Hasōr (), and in Arabic Tell Waqqas or Tell Qedah el-Gul (), is an archaeological Tell (archaeology), tell at the site of ancient Hazor, located in the Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee, in the northe ...
with the element ḫa-nu-ta. The text has been dated to the period between the eighteenth and sixteenth centuries BCE. A single theophoric name, Anati, is also known from
Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...
. Furthermore, a document from the reign of Ramesses II mentions a man from an unspecified location in modern Syria. He bore the name ''bn ‘nt'', and served as a
ship captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship, inc ...
. In April 2022, media reports referred to an uninscribed head of a statue discovered by a farmer in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
as a depiction of Anat. However, it has been noted in past scholarship that while she, Ashtart and Athirat are "often taken to be possible candidates when a new representation was found it should (...) be kept in mind that there were also other goddesses." The identification of individual deities of the region in art is considered difficult without accompanying inscriptions, in part due to lack of documents providing information about the composition of the local pantheon of a given location, even for well known sites like
Megiddo Megiddo may refer to: Places and sites in Israel * Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley * Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel * Megiddo church (Israel) * Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel * Megiddo Juncti ...
. The only representation of Anat from the Levant directly identified as such by an accompanying inscription follows Egyptian artistic conventions and dates back to the twelfth century BCE.


The logogram dNIN.URTA as a representation of Anat

In 1990,
Nadav Na'aman Nadav Na'aman (Hebrew language, Hebrew: נדב נעמן; born in 1939 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli archaeologist and historian. He specializes in the study of the Near East in the second and first millenniums Current Era , BCE. His research combin ...
suggested that in the Amarna letters, the logogram dNIN.URTA, which appears in the entire corpus only four times and has been a subject of scholarly debate, designates Anat. He points out that despite her well attested role in religions of the second millennium BCE, no logographic writing of her name has been otherwise identified, with the exception of pseudo-logographic dIGI-''at'' from Ugarit, even though logographic writing of other major deity names is well attested in other western text corpora from the late
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
. He argues that the shared character of Anat and Ninurta as warlike deities would make such an association easy to accept in antiquity. This conclusion is also supported by Gebhard J. Selz. Na'aman assumes that the difference of gender might have not been obvious to the western theologians due to the presence of the sign NIN in many feminine
theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...
s of Sumerian origin. An earlier proposal was that dNIN.URTA refers to Hauron in this context, but according to Na'aman this is implausible, as this god was associated with
incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...
s and
exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...
s, rather than war. Hauron's position in known pantheons was typically low, and he is entirely absent from theophoric personal names from the discussed time period unlike dNIN.URTA. Based on Na'aman's theory, it has subsequently been proposed that the temple of dNIN.URTA , where
Abdi-Ashirta Abdi-Ashirta ( Akkadian: 𒀵𒀀𒅆𒅕𒋫 ''Warad-Ašîrta'' RAD2-A-ši-ir-ta fl. 14th century BC) was the ruler of Amurru who was in conflict with King Rib-Hadda of Byblos. While some contend that Amurru was a new kingdom in southern Syria ...
mustered his troops according to the Amarna letter number 74, line 36, should be understood as belonging to Anat. Na'aman himself also proposed that a king of Siyannu attested in a single Ugaritic text, Abdi-dNIN.URTA , was the same person as the better known Abdi-Anati, a contemporary of Niqmepa. Peggy L. Day, also relying on Na'aman's proposal, argues that the deity designated as dNIN.URTA in texts from Emar might also be Anat. However, in a more recent summary of plausible proposals regarding the identity of this presently anonymous deity, Gary Beckman only lists
Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , ''Rašap'', , ''ršp'', Egyptian ', , ''ršp'', ''Rešep̄'') was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of ...
, who he considers a likely (though nonetheless speculative) option himself due to his presence in many theophoric names and his warlike character.
Joan Goodnick Westenholz Joan Goodnick Westenholz (1 July 1943 – February 2013) was an Assyriologist and the chief curator at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. She held positions related to academic research at the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), Ha ...
proposed that a uniquely local deity, known as Il Imari (or Ḫamari), "the Emariote god," is the one indicated. Both DINGIR (to be read as ''Il'') ''i-ma-ri'' and ''dḪa-ma-ri'' are attested in Emariote sources. Michael P. Streck does accept the view that Anat was regarded as analogous to Ninurta in Amurru and further south, in
Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
. He considers the identity of the Emariote dNIN.URTA uncertain, citing Westenholz's Il Imari proposal and the Mesopotamian Ninurta, but not Anat, as possibilities. Yoram Cohen considers Resheph, Il Imari and
Attar Attar, also known as ittar, is an essential oil derived from botanical or other natural sources. Most commonly these oils are extracted via hydrodistillation or steam distillation. Attar can also be expressed by chemical means but generally n ...
, suggested by Daniel Arnaud, to be plausible identification proposals.


The Elkunirša myth

According to Daniel Schwemer, it is sometimes assumed that a goddess designated by the logogram dIŠTAR in the myth of
Elkunirša Elkunirša (in Hittite: '' Del-ku-ni-ir-ša'' or '' Del-ku-ni-ir-ša-aš'') is a Hittite god of a Canaanite origin. The god is known from a myth in Hittite, believed to be originated from Canaan, as well as one ritual tablet. Myth of Elkunirš ...
(CTH 342) which is known from Hittite archives might be Anat (or perhaps
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
). This proposal is not universally accepted, and according to Steve A. Wiggins there is no indication that the characters present in it necessarily match these known from Ugaritic mythology. Mary R. Bachvarova recently pointed out that the goddess' name appears to actually be dIŠTAR-''iš'', which according to her would suggest that Hittite Anzili is meant. The origin of this text itself is also a matter of scholarly dispute. Daniel Schwemer considers it to be unknown. Bachvarova points out a reference to a person from the kingdom of Amurru, and presumes that the origin can be broadly attributed to a West Semitic literary
milieu The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educated ...
. Wiggins assumes that even if it originated in a Canaanite area, it likely went through a number of changes during its transmission.
Itamar Singer Itamar Singer (; November 26, 1946 – September 19, 2012) was an Israeli author and historian of Jewish-Romanian origin. He is known for his research of the Ancient Near East and as a leading Hittitologist, pioneering the study of this an ...
argued that it was formed in a "cultural koinē consisting of an intricate fusion of Semitic and Hurrian elements." The role of dIŠTAR in the tale is to inform a
weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
that the eponymous deity (whose name might be derived from an epithet of the Ugaritic god El) and his wife, Ašertu (
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
), are plotting against him. Both Ugaritic
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
and Hittite
Tarḫunna Tarḫunna or Tarḫuna/i was the Hittite weather god. He was also referred to as the "Weather god of Heaven" or the "Lord of the Land of Hatti". Name Tarḫunna is a cognate of the Hittite verb ''tarḫu-zi'', "to prevail, conquer, be pow ...
have been proposed as the identity of the weather god.


First millennium BCE attestations


Mesopotamian sources

The city of
Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...
is attested as the main cult center of Anat in Mesopotamia based on sources from the eighth century BCE. The E-šuzianna temple, according to later inscriptions already patronized by the
Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...
king
Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...
, remained in use. While the surrounding area, still known as
Suhum Suhum (Sūḫu, or Suhi) was an ancient geographic region around the middle course of the Euphrates River, in modern Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, "New Light on the Land of Sūḫu: A Review Article and new Political H ...
, came under the control of
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
, local culture and religion in the first millennium BCE were instead influenced by
Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...
. Next to Anat, the main deity of her city was
Adad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...
, but it is not known how the relation between them was conceptualized. Daniel Schwemer points out that the role of Adad's wife was most likely played by the weather goddess
Shala Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karka ...
, rather than Anat. The relationship between Adad and Shala is attested elsewhere in Mesopotamia. A stela found in
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
inscribed with the name of Šamaš-reš-uṣur, who served as the governor of Suhu around 760 BCE, is presumed to depict Anat alongside other deities following a proposal of Antoine Cavigneaux and Bahija Khalil Ismail from 1990. The fragment of the inscription referring to her is damaged, and the image itself is also damaged. The other two deities are identified as
Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
and Adad. All three of them are depicted in feathered crowns and robes decorated with rondels, following the Babylonian artistic convention of the period. It has been proposed that a fourth deity was originally depicted on a section which has since broken off, but this remains speculative. The deities are accompanied by a smaller depiction of Šamaš-reš-uṣur himself, who unlike them is instead dressed in typically Assyrian manner,. Also included are symbols of
Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...
(
spade A spade is a tool primarily for digging consisting of a long handle and blade, typically with the blade narrower and flatter than the common shovel. Early spades were made of riven wood or of animal bones (often shoulder blades). After the a ...
),
Nabu Nabu (, ) is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, scribes, wisdom, and the rational arts. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian means 'announcer' or 'authorised pe ...
(
stylus A stylus is a writing utensil or tool for scribing or marking into softer materials. Different styluses were used to write in cuneiform by pressing into wet clay, and to scribe or carve into a wax tablet. Very hard styluses are also used to En ...
) and
Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
(
crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...
). The similarity of the artwork on this stele to the ''
kudurru A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...
'' (boundary stone) of
Nabu-shuma-ishkun Nabû-šuma-iškun, inscribed mdun,''Kinglist A'', BM 33332, iv 2. and meaning " Nabû has set a name", was king of Babylon, speculatively ca. 761 – 748 BC (see below for provenance), and ruled during a time of great civil unrest. He came from ...
has been noted. Ninurta-kudurri-usur, the son of Šamaš-reš-uṣur, at one point renovated the E-šuzianna temple. His inscription referring to this event describes Anat as "the perfect lady, most exalted of the goddesses, most powerful of the goddesses, greatest of the Igīgu gods, august lady whose godhead is splendid, splendid lady whose valour is not equalled by (that of any of) the (other) goddesses." He also asserts that at an unspecified point prior to his reign, the Assyrians desecrated a statue of Anat, took away its ornaments, and then hid it somewhere, where it remained until he recovered it. Like his other inscriptions, this text in written in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, though it shows Assyrian and
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
influence as well. The name of Anat is written as ''an-at''. Among the other gods mentioned are
Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...
, Marduk, Adad, Apladad and Misharu.


Phoenician sources

Anat's position in
Phoenician religion Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...
is a topic of debate among researchers. Reconstruction of Phoenician religious beliefs is difficult due to the scarcity and the
laconic A laconic phrase or laconism is a concise or terse statement, especially a blunt and elliptical rejoinder. It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal auste ...
nature of available sources. Cultural continuity with Ugaritic religion cannot be established. It has been argued that the small number of
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
s invoking Anat and the lack of much other evidence pertaining to her
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
might be an indication that Anat's worship in the west had declined compared to her status in the second millennium BCE. Izak Cornelius goes as far as arguing that she outright disappeared from many of the local pantheons, but Peggy L. Day argues against this conclusion. Four inscribed votive objects dedicated to Anat have been discovered in
Idalion Idalion or Idalium (, ''Idalion'', Phoenician: 𐤀𐤃𐤉𐤋, , Akkadian: ''e-di-ʾi-il'', Edīl) was an ancient city in Cyprus, in modern Dali, Nicosia District. The city was founded on the copper trade in the 3rd millennium BC. Its name d ...
on
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. Since two of them are a horse binder (dated to the seventh century BCE) and a spearhead (dated to the fifth or early fourth century BCE), it is assumed that Anat had retained her warlike nature (which is known from Ugaritic sources) in Phoenician religion as well. A
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
Phoenician-
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
inscription, the Anat-Athena bilingual has also been found in
Larnakas tis Lapithou Larnakas tis Lapithou (; ) is a village in Cyprus, near the town of Lapithos. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. The Anat Athena bilingual Greek-Phoenician inscription was found near the village in the 19th century. Until 1 ...
. The Greek version refers to "
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
Soteria Nike" instead of Anat, presumably due to the shared marital nature and, according to Peggy L. Day, the characterization of both as "non-sexually active, non-reproductive goddesses." Comparisons between Anat and Athena have also been made by modern researchers of Greek religion, such as
Walter Burkert Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of student ...
, who highlighted the similarities in iconography of martial deities excavated in Greece (especially statuettes referred to with the term
Palladion In Greek and Roman mythology, the Palladium or Palladion (Greek Παλλάδιον (Palladion), Latin ''Palladium'') was a cult image of great antiquity on which the safety of Troy and later Rome was said to depend, the wooden statue ('' xoanon ...
) and
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. The goddess referred to as Athena by
Philo of Byblos Philo of Byblos (, ''Phílōn Býblios''; ;  – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexicon, lexical and historical works in Greek language, Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history ...
has also been argued to be Anat. Philo states that Athena's sister was
Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...
, who might be simply the Greek goddess in this case, as she was worshiped in
Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...
; a connection with Ugaritic
Arsay Arsay (Ugaritic: ''‘arṣy'') was a goddess worshiped in the city of Ugarit in the late Bronze Age. Her standing in the Ugaritic pantheon and her role in Ugaritic religion remain uncertain. It has been proposed that she was associated with th ...
cannot be proven. However, as noted by Richard J. Clifford, from the 1980s onwards commenters on Philo's work point out that while at least some elements of his account are a reflection of authentic Phoenician beliefs, it should be understood primarily as Hellenizing and heavily influenced by
Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, rather than Phoenician mythology, and therefore not entire reliable for the study of earlier periods. The identification of the deity ''dA-na-ti ba-a-ti'' DINGIR.MEŠ, possibly to be read as Anat-Bayt’el, in the treaty between
Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...
and king Baal of Tyre with Anat is considered implausible. Day notes that while such proposals are present in scholarship, the name might also be an unrelated
compound noun A compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme. The English language, like many others, uses compounds frequently. English compounds may be classified in several ways, such as the word classes or the semantic relationship of their ...
. While it is conventionally assumed that Anat-Bayt’el was one of the main deities of Tyre,
Karel van der Toorn Karel van der Toorn (born 8 March 1956 in The Hague) is a Dutch scholar of ancient religions. From 2006 to 2011 he was chairman of the Board at the University of Amsterdam, where he was a professor from 1998 until he became the chairman. Van der ...
has called into question if the name has Phoenician origin at all due to the lack of other attestations from this city and nearby areas. He proposes that was derived from
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
instead. The assertion that
Tanit Tanit or Tinnit (Punic language, Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnnīt'' (JStor)) was a chief deity of Ancient Carthage; she derives from a local Berber deity and the consort of Baal Hammon. As Ammon is a local Libyan deity, so is Tannit, who represents ...
, worshiped in
Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...
, was the same deity as Anat can be found in older literature, for example in the publications of
William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...
. According to Steve A. Wiggins, such assertions should be treated cautiously. It cannot necessarily be assumed that Tanit corresponds to any major goddess from the second millennium.


Hebrew Bible

The only certain references to Anat in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Shamgar Shamgar, son of Anath ( ''Šamgar''), is the name of one or possibly two individuals named in the Book of Judges. The name occurs twice: #at the first mention, Shamgar is identified as a man who repelled Philistine incursions into Israelite regi ...
ben Anat (
Judges 3 Judges 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel,Gilad, ElonWho Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets? '' ...
:31), and the place names Beth-Anath (
Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
19:38 and Judges 1:33) Two further possible examples are the toponym
Anathoth Anathoth is the name of one of the Levitical cities given to "the children of Aaron" in the tribe of Benjamin (; ). Residents were called Antothites or Anetothites. Name The name of this town may be derived from a Canaanite goddess, `Anat. It ...
(
Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...
1:1) and the homophonous name Anathoth (
Nehemiah Nehemiah (; ''Nəḥemyā'', "Yahweh, Yah comforts") is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period as the governor of Yehud Medinata, Persian Judea under Artaxer ...
10:20). Steve A. Wiggins based on available evidence concludes that Anat was only "vestigially present" in the Kingdom of Israel. Karel van der Toorn reaches a similar conclusion. Most researchers agree that the single verse which mentions Shamgar ben Anat and his victory over six hundred
Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...
was a late addition to the
Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...
, and that it most likely represents an entirely fictitious account, possibly inspired by better known feats attributed to
Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...
or soldiers of
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
. Nili Shupak suggests that "ben Anat" should be interpreted as a
cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...
designating its bearer as a
warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...
from a troop dedicated to Anat due to her well-known character as a war deity. Shupak points out that multiple examples of similar theophoric names of soldiers are known. The analogous name ''bn ‘nt'' is known from an inscribed
arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...
dated to the eleventh century BCE and from a seal with a
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
inscription of unknown provenance dated to the eight or seventh century BCE. An alternate proposal, originally formulated by
William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...
, is that ben Anat simply indicates that Shamgar was born in Beth Anat. This option is considered unlikely by Shupak. The proposal that ''‘annôt'' in the
Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
of Exodus 32:18 should be reinterpreted as a reference to Anat is considered implausible. It relies on the incorrect assumption that Anat was a
fertility goddess A fertility deity is a god or goddess associated with fertility, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and crops. In some cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences; in others they are more abstract symbols. Fertility rites may a ...
associated with
human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, and as such can be associated with the described licentious behaviour pertaining to the worship of the
golden calf According to the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, the golden calf () was a cult image made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai (bible), Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf" (). It is first mentio ...
. Furthermore, the idol constructed by the Israelites is described as a young bull (''‘gl''), while a representation of a female deity would be more likely referred to as a heifer (''‘glh'') instead. The proposal that the
Queen of Heaven Queen of Heaven () is a title given by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, to Mary, mother of Jesus, and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism and Lutheranism. The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literat ...
from the
Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah () is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1#Superscription, Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the book as "th ...
(7:18, 44:17) might be Anat, while reliant on well attested Ugaritic and Egyptian epithets, is also considered implausible.


Disputed proposals

Two possible theonyms with Anat as an element have been identified in
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
texts Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
from the fifth century BCE
Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; ; ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological site, archaeological digs on the island became a World Heritage Site in 1979, along with other examples of ...
, ‘ntyhw and ‘ntbyt’l. However, in both cases the element ''‘nt'' might instead be a common noun. It has been argued that they are genitival constructs, respectively "Anat of Yahu" and "Anat of Bethel," the latter possibly corresponding to the deity Anat-Bayt’el known from the treaty between
Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...
and king Baal of Tyre. Bayt’el or
Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...
might have been the eponymous god of the settlement Bethel, tentatively identified with modern Bet Laha, located west of
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
. The element Yahu is presumed to correspond to
Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...
, the
national god A national god or tribal god is a guardian deity whose special concern is supposed to be the safety and well-being of an 'ethnic group' (''nation''). This is contrasted with other guardian figures such as family gods responsible for the well-be ...
of the
Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
. It has been argued that both ''‘ntyhw'' and ''‘ntbyt’l'' should be understood as consorts of the male gods mentioned in their names. However, it was already questioned in the 1990s if the names should be translated as "Anat, consort of Yahu" and "Anat, consort of Bethel," and according to Susan Ackerman, the current majority view is that the name Anat-Yahu instead should be understood as a hypostasis of Yahu. The first element of the name is a common noun meaning " providence" or "sign." An Aramaic inscription from Egypt mentioning a priest of Anat is known, but its authenticity has been called into question by Ackerman. It is a part of the Michaelides collection, multiple objects from which are known for repeated documentational irregularities. The irregularities suggest that they might be inauthentic. It is sometimes argued that the goddess
Atargatis Atargatis (known as Derceto by the Greeks) was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Primarily she was a fertility goddess, but, as the ''baalat'' ("mistress") of her city and people she was also responsible for their prot ...
, worshiped in modern Syria in the
Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
and
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
periods, represented a fusion of Anat and
Ashtart Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
. This proposal is based on
William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...
's assertion that Atta might be an Aramaic form of Anat's name, and that therefore the name of Atargatis can be plausibly explained as a combination of Anat's and Ashtart's. This view has been criticized by Peggy L. Day, who, following an earlier study by Jo Ann Hackett, points out that the popularity of such theories in past scholarship is tied to the notion that goddesses were interchangeable and had no discernible individual traits. She suggests that the proposal requires "critical reassessment."


Comparative scholarship

In the 1960s it has been argued that the
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
goddess
Kālī Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major Devi, goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses ...
, who is first attested in the 7th century CE, shares some characteristics with some ancient Near Eastern goddesses, such wearing a necklace of heads and a belt of severed hands like Anat, and drinking blood like the Egyptian goddess
Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis , from ; ) is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine. Sekhmet is also a solar deity, sometimes given the epithet "the Eye of Ra, eye of Ra". She is often associated with the goddesses Hatho ...
and that therefore that her character might have been influenced by them. A myth describes how Kali became ecstatic with the joy of battle and slaughter while killing demons, and refused to stop until she was pacified by her consort,
Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
, who threw himself under her feet.
Marvin H. Pope Marvin Hoyle Pope (June 23, 1916 – June 13, 1997) was a scholar of ancient Semitic languages, including Ugaritic and Iron Age Hebrew. He served in the faculty of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University from 1949 to 198 ...
in 1977 wrote that this myth exhibits parallels to the Ugaritic myth in which Anat started attacking warriors, which describies the goddess as gloating and her heart filling with joy and her liver with laughter while attaching the heads of warriors to her back and girding hands to her waist until she is pacified by a message of peace sent by
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
.


Use of the name in present-day Israel

"Anat" (ענת) is commonly used as a female first name in present-day
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
(see list of people so named in Anat (disambiguation). This is one of the Biblical names introduced by the
Zionist Movement Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly co ...
and not attested among earlier Jewish communities.


References


Bibliography

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External links

*
Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur 10
an
Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur 11
two inscriptions from Suhum mentioning Anat, in the
Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, or Oracc, is an ongoing project designed to make the corpus of cuneiform compositions from the ancient Near East available online and accessible to users. The project, created by Steve Tinney of the Univ ...
{{Authority control Ugaritic deities Mesopotamian goddesses Egyptian goddesses West Semitic goddesses Hurrian deities Phoenician mythology Deities in the Hebrew Bible War goddesses Hunting goddesses Virgin goddesses Queens of Heaven (antiquity) Children of El (deity) Mythological archers Book of Judges