Английская Википедия:Anat

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Anat (Шаблон:IPAc-en, Шаблон:IPAc-en), Anatu, classically Anath (Шаблон:IPAc-en; Шаблон:Lang-uga ʿnt; Шаблон:Lang-he ʿĂnāṯ; Шаблон:Lang-phn; Шаблон:Lang-el; Egyptian: ꜥntjt) was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume that she originated in the Amorite culture of Bronze Age upper Mesopotamia, and that the goddess Ḫanat, attested in the texts from Mari and worshiped in a city sharing her name located in Suhum, should be considered her forerunner.

In Ugarit, Anat was one of the main goddesses, and regularly received offerings, as attested in texts written both in the local Ugaritic language and in Hurrian. She also frequently appears in myths, including the Baal Cycle and the Epic of Aqhat. In the former, she is portrayed as a staunch ally of the weather god Baal, 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. Interactions between Anat and the sun goddess Shapash and moon god Yarikh are described in myths as well. In Hurrian ritual texts, she appears alongside deities such as Šimige, Aštabi and Nupatik. Elsewhere in the Levant and in nearby regions of inland Syria, Anat's status apparently was not equally high, though she is nonetheless attested in Emar, Hazor and elsewhere.

At some point in time in the Bronze Age, either during the reign of Hyksos or shortly after its end, Anat was introduced to Egypt, and achieved a degree of prominence during the reign of Ramesses II, whose devotion to her is well attested. Evidence for Egyptian worship of Anat is also available from various sites in Israel & Palestine which were controlled by the pharaohs in the Bronze Age. She remained a part of the Egyptian pantheon as late as in the Roman 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. They indicate that on this island an association developed between her and the Greek goddess Athena based on their similar character. The only references to Anat in the Hebrew Bible are indirect, and are limited to toponyms and theophoric names, which is presumed to indicate that she was not commonly worshiped in the Kingdom of Israel.

Anat was characterized as a fertility goddess 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 below the first consonant, Hanat, is also in useШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn) known from the texts from Mari,Шаблон:Sfn and originally worshiped further south, in Suhum.Шаблон:Sfn While Jean-Marie Durand argues against this connection, and his view has also been adopted by Lluís Feliu,Шаблон:Sfn Lambert's theory has been accepted by a number of other researchers, including Wilfred G. E. Watson,Шаблон:Sfn Gebhard J. Selz,Шаблон:Sfn Volkert HaasШаблон:Sfn and Daniel Schwemer.Шаблон:Sfn Multiple Assyriologists, including Andrew R. GeorgeШаблон:Sfn and Julia M. Asher-Greve, outright refer to the goddess from Suhum, still worshiped there in later periods, simply as Anat,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

In the light of Lambert's theory, Anat, like her presumed forerunner Ḫanat, would be an Amorite deity in origin.Шаблон:Sfn

Multiple etymologies of Anat's name have been proposed.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn While none have been conclusively proven, the view it is a cognate of the Arabic word ‘anwat, "force" or "violence," is considered plausible.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Peggy L. Day notes that this proposal and the view that Anat and Ḫanat are analogous "dovetail" each other.Шаблон:Sfn Lambert assumed that Ḫanat's name could refer to the Ḫanaeans (Ḫana), an Amorite group.Шаблон:Sfn Similarly, Durand derives it from ḫana, which he considers to be a label analogous to Bedouin.Шаблон:Sfn However, Ḫanat's homonymous cult center apparently was not located in the lands considered the territory of the Ḫanaeans.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn One such example is Ariella Deem's suggestion that it was derived from a purely hypothetical root *’nh, "to make love."Шаблон:Sfn While in the past scholarship Anat was described as a "patroness of wanton love," or as a "fertility goddess," these views started to be challenged in scholarly publications in the 1990s and are no longer accepted today by most researchers.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Sometimes similar labels can nonetheless be found even in more recent publications.Шаблон:Sfn

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 EastШаблон:Sfn and considers such a characterization an example of perceiving women "in terms of biological functions"Шаблон:Sfn formed largely based on contemporary speculation, rather than on the available ritual texts and other primary sources.Шаблон:Sfn 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" rather than an accurate reflection of religion in antiquity.Шаблон:Sfn 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 and filling of lacunae.Шаблон:Sfn 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" goddessШаблон:Sfn Michael C. Astour remarked critically that Lipiński's translation explained "practically every noun by 'penis'" to accomplish this.Шаблон:Sfn More recent research revealed that the text does not mention Anat at all.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Ḫanat in the Mari texts

The worship of Ḫanat is well attested in texts from Old Babylonian Mari.Шаблон:Sfn She was particularly venerated in the land of Suhum, where a city named Ḫanat (later Anat) was located.Шаблон:Sfn Its name could be written with the dingir sign preceding it (^dḪa-na-at^ki, Bit ^dḪa-na-at^kiШаблон:Sfn), which indicates it was directly named after the goddess.Шаблон:Sfn It has been identified with modern Anah in Iraq.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn One of the Mari texts mentions a temple of Ḫanat, presumed to be located in the city named after her.Шаблон:Sfn Later documents from Suhum indicate that a temple dedicated to the local goddess bore the ceremonial Sumerian name E-šuzianna, "house, true hand of heaven."Шаблон:Sfn The tradition of assigning such names of houses of worship originated in southern Mesopotamia among the Sumerians and Akkadians, but it outlived the decline of Sumerian as a vernacular language,Шаблон:Sfn and spread to other areas within the Mesopotamian cultural sphere, including Assyria and the basin of the Diyala River in the north, the kingdom of Mari and the city of Harran in the west and to a smaller degree Elam in the east.Шаблон:Sfn Hammurabi of Babylon patronized the temples of the city of Ḫanat according to a later inscription of Ninurta-kudurri-usur,Шаблон:Sfn son of the local ruler Šamaš-reš-uṣur known from a stele found in Babylon.Шаблон:Sfn

In an offering list from the reign of Zimri-Lim, Ḫanat appears as the recipient of two sheep.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The same document lists a number of other deities worshiped in Mari, such as Numushda, Ishara and Ninkarrak.Шаблон:Sfn Oil offerings to Ḫanat were apparently made by women from the royal palace.Шаблон:Sfn She is the last of the eight deities mentioned in a list presumed to document this custom.Шаблон:Sfn The formula "Dagan and Ḫanat are well" occurs in a letter from Buqāqum, a royal official active in Ḫanat.Шаблон:Sfn 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, and by king Zimri-Lim to guarantee that he will not attempt to press the same claims again.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Ḫanat is also mentioned in a letter from Šamaš-nasir, an official from Terqa, to Zimri-Lim, in which he relays an oracular declaration of Dagan to the king.Шаблон:Sfn Its subject is a verdict pronounced by the local god for Tishpak, the god of the kingdom of Eshnunna, after Yakrub-El relays to him that Ḫanat is threatened by the latter's actions.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Ḫanat appears in four types of theophoric names of womenШаблон:Sfn and ten types of names of men in the Mari texts.Шаблон:Sfn Some of the attested bearers of such names were deportees from the area roughly between Mount Abdulaziz and the Sinjar Mountains.Шаблон:Sfn A certain Ḫabdi-Ḫanat was at one point tasked with manufacturing a throne for Dagan in Mari itself.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Anat in the Ugaritic texts

Anat was one of the main goddesses in the pantheon of Ugarit,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn a city located in the north of modern Syria on the Mediterranean coast whose religion was closely related to that of Mari.Шаблон:Sfn According to the Ugaritic texts, Anat resides on a mountain known under the name ‘Inbubu, whose location remains unknown.Шаблон:Sfn An association between her and Mount Saphon, while also known, is infrequently attested.Шаблон:Sfn In the standard Ugaritic list of deities, she is placed between Athirat and Shapash.Шаблон:Sfn In the analogous text written in syllabic cuneiform, her name is rendered as ^da-na-tu₄.Шаблон:Sfn

In Ugarit Anat was regarded as a warrior goddess,Шаблон:Sfn though she was not the only deity cast in this role.Шаблон:Sfn She is described using both a sword and a bow.Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, sources such as KTU 1.114 and KTU 1.22 attest that she was portrayed as a huntress as well.Шаблон:Sfn 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 tendencies to her.Шаблон:Sfn Lewis' conclusion is also accepted by other researchers today.Шаблон:Sfn In reality, as discovered during the digitalization of Ugaritic texts currently stored in Damascus, the text does not mention the goddess at all,Шаблон:Sfn as it is not plausible that ‘nn is a mistake for ‘nt.Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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 (‘nn hlkt).Шаблон:Sfn This proposal is also accepted by Gebhard J. Selz.Шаблон:Sfn

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 human women were expected to take in society.Шаблон:Sfn Less formally, Dennis Pardee labeled her as a "tomboy goddess,"Шаблон:Sfn a characterization also employed by Izak Cornelius.Шаблон:Sfn 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."

It has been suggested that Anat was also regarded as a "mistress of animals,"Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Textual sources describe Anat as winged and capable of flight,Шаблон:Sfn which is commonly employed to identify possible depictions of her among the works of art from Ugarit.Шаблон:Sfn One possible example is a cylinder seal showing a winged goddess in a helmet decorated with horns and a knob, standing on a bull and holding a lion.Шаблон:Sfn 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, other local goddesses could be depicted with wings too.Шаблон:Sfn Some researchers, among them Silvia Schroer, employ terms such as "Anat-Astarte type" when describing figures depicted in art to mitigate this problem.Шаблон:Sfn

Epithets

It has been postulated that the character of Ugaritic deities is well reflected in the epithets applied to them.Шаблон:Sfn 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").Шаблон:Sfn As of 2008, it has been identified in a total of forty nine passages.Шаблон:Sfn Its exact translation was a subject of scholarly controversy in the past,Шаблон:Sfn though today it is most commonly rendered as "maiden" in English.Шаблон:Sfn Other proposals include "virgin," "girl" and "adolescent."Шаблон:Sfn However, it is now agreed that the term, even if translated as "virgin," does not refer to virginity in the modern sense, but simply designates her as young and nubile.Шаблон:Sfn The proposal that btlt had a more precise meaning, "young woman who did not yet bring forth male offspring," is considered baseless.Шаблон:Sfn An Akkadian cognate, 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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 of the period, there is no indication that Ugaritic deities were bound by identical norms.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

A further well attested epithet of Anat is ybmt l’imm, known from ten passages, but there is no consensus regarding its translation.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn However, according to Alfonso Archi the element lim, while theophoric, should be treated simply as a religious understanding of the concept of the clan 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.Шаблон:Sfn References to Lim are uncommon in Ugaritic texts, and the presumed deity shows no apparent connection to Anat.Шаблон:Sfn

A single passage in the text KTU 1.108 refers to Anat as gṯr, possibly "the powerful."Шаблон:Sfn 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, "power," instead of the adjective well known from other texts.Шаблон:Sfn An entire sequence of otherwise unknownШаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The mlk-drkt word pair is also known from other poetic contexts.Шаблон:Sfn It has also been suggested that the parallelism of the terms drkt and šmm rmm might be reflected in the names Derketo and Semiramis known from late antique sources.Шаблон:Sfn Gebhard J. Selz remarks that despite one of these epithet associating her with the heavens, Anat was never regarded as an astral deity.Шаблон:Sfn Rahmouni suggests the word kpṯ is most likely a cognate of Akkadian kupšu, a type of headdress which is also mentioned in divine epithets. Gregorio del Olmo Lete instead argues that its probable meaning is "firmament", based on the parallel with šmm rmm, and that its Akkadian cognate would be kabāsu, "to trample."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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 crown in Egyptian sources.Шаблон:Sfn

Worship

In an offering list described as "Sacrifice to the gods of Mount Saphon,"Шаблон:Sfn which possibly documents rites which took place over the course of the two months following the winter solstice, ‘Iba’latu and Ḫiyyāru (roughly corresponding to the period between the 21st of December and the 20th of February according to Dennis Pardee),Шаблон:Sfn Anat is the recipient of rams, similar to many other deities listed, such as Shapash, Arsay, Ishara and Kinnaru.Шаблон:Sfn Another ritual text mentions the sacrifice of multiple bulls and rams to Anat.Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, a burnt offering of a bull and a ram to "Anat of Saphon" is singled out near the end of the tablet.Шаблон:Sfn Anat of Saphon receives the same offering according to another source, listing the sacrifices made to her, as well as Ilib, El, Baal and Pidray, in the temple of Baal.Шаблон:Sfn 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), Yarikh, Pidray and Dadmiš.Шаблон:Sfn In an entry ritual (an Amorite practice well known from Mari) of Ashtart,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn However, there is no indication that the label Gaṯarūma (which appears to describe the other three deities) also applied to her.Шаблон:Sfn

Seventeen individuals bearing theophoric names invoking Anat have been identified in known Ugaritic texts, one among them being a king of nearby Siyannu.Шаблон:Sfn This makes her the second most popular goddess in that regard after Shapash, present in the names of sixty six individuals.Шаблон:Sfn The element ‘ilat ("goddess;" attested as epithet of both Athirat and AnatШаблон:Sfn) occurs more often, with a total of twenty two attestations, but it is not certain if it refers to a specific deity.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Hurrian ritual texts

Anat is also present in Hurrian offering lists from Ugarit, according to Daniel Schwemer possibly because she had no close equivalent among the Hurrian deities, unlike other well attested members of the local pantheon.Шаблон:Sfn In one of them, she receives a ram after Aštabi (a warrior god) and Šimige (the sun god).Шаблон:Sfn In another similar list she is instead preceded by Nupatik.Шаблон:Sfn She also appears in a Hurrian ritual dealing with the anointing of deities, which otherwise only mentions members of the Hurrian pantheon.Шаблон:Sfn

Texts from Ugarit attesting 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."Шаблон:Sfn

Attested and proposed associations with other deities

It is agreed that a close connection existed between Anat and Baal, but its nature continues to be disputed.Шаблон:Sfn Past scholarship is commonly criticized for speculation about her presumed status as his wife.Шаблон:Sfn No evidence exists for a spousal relationship between Anat and any other deity in the Ugaritic texts,Шаблон:Sfn while possible indications of sexual relations with other deities, or lack of them, are not interpreted uniformly.Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn though a skeptical approach should be retained.Шаблон:Sfn 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, Tallay and Arsay).Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn with Athirat being presumed to be her mother.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Ashtart frequently appears in Ugaritic texts alongside Anat, and the pairing of these two goddesses has been described as "fairly standard."Шаблон:Sfn An incantation against snakebite 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,Шаблон:Sfn while Ashtart was instead believed to dwell in Mari.Шаблон:Sfn Another similar text similarly invokes them together, after the pairs Baal and Dagan and Yarikh and Resheph.Шаблон:Sfn The importance of Ashtart is considered secondary compared to Anat in these sources and in the broader corpus of Ugaritic texts.Шаблон:Sfn However, Dennis Pardee stresses that while closely associated, the goddesses were not fused together.Шаблон:Sfn

The trilingual Sumero-Hurro-Ugaritic version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit treats Anat, whose name is repeated in both of the latter columns, as analogous to the Mesopotamian god Saĝkud,Шаблон:Sfn who belonged to the circle of either Ninurta or Anu.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Modern researchers often compare Anat to deities such as the Mesopotamian Inanna and Annunitum and the Hurrian Šauška.Шаблон:Sfn However, Jo Ann Hackett critically evaluated presenting the character of Anat and Inanna as identical.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn However, it has also been proposed that she was a distinct deity. Шаблон:Sfn The meaning of the name was possibly analogous to Mesopotamian Belet Ekallim.Шаблон:Sfn Ba’alat Bahatīma might have also been a title of a different Ugaritic goddess, possibly PidrayШаблон:Sfn or Athirat.Шаблон:Sfn

A further deity sometimes argued to be identical with Anat is Rahmay, known from KTU 1.23, a myth about Shahar and Shalim.Шаблон:Sfn However, evidence in favor of this theory is absent from any known Ugaritic texts.Шаблон:Sfn

A minor deity named ṯmq, who might correspond to Mesopotamian Sumuqan, is described as "warrior of Anat" (mhr ‘nt) in two passages.Шаблон:Sfn

Mythology

Anat appears in multiple Ugaritic myths, where she is typically portrayed as the main ally of Baal.Шаблон:Sfn Theodore J. Lewis based on these texts has characterized her as "without doubt the most vivid of the Ugaritic goddesses."Шаблон:Sfn

Baal Cycle

Шаблон:Main Anat is portrayed in her usual role in the Baal Cycle,Шаблон:Sfn a well known Ugaritic narrative poem preserved on the tablets KTU 1.1–6.Шаблон:Sfn Sometimes, labels such as Baal-Anat cycle are used to refer to this work.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn Later, when Yam, Baal's rival for the position of king of the gods, sends his messengers to the divine assembly, Anat and Ashtart prevent the weather god from harming them.Шаблон:Sfn She seizes his right hand (KTU 1.2 I 40), while the other goddess - seizes his left hand.Шаблон:Sfn This passage is one of the multiple identified examples of poetic parallelism, employing the names of Anat and Ashart side by side.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn She apparently confronts a human army in a passage which remains poorly understood.Шаблон:Sfn Afterwards, the messengers of Baal, Gapnu (also spelled GupanШаблон:Sfn) 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).Шаблон:Sfn Among the enemies she lists are Yam, listed twice (once under his main name and once as Nahar), Tunnanu (a sea serpent),Шаблон:Sfn further serpentine sea monsters (bṯn ‘qltn, "the twisting serpent" and šlyṭ d šb ‘t r’ašm, "the dominant one who has seven heads"),Шаблон:Sfn Arsh (‘arš; possibly also a sea monster),Шаблон:Sfn Atik (‘tk, the "calf of El" or alternatively the "divine calf,"Шаблон:Sfn Ḏabību (ḏbb; described as a daughter of El and presumed to be demonic in character),Шаблон:Sfn 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).Шаблон:Sfn 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. According to Pitard, the reference might indicate the existence of a separate tradition which is otherwise not preserved in known texts.Шаблон:Sfn

After learning that the source of Baal's anguish is not a new enemy but the lack of his own dwelling,Шаблон:Sfn Anat disrespectfully attempts to pressure El to grant Baal the permission to have a palace built for himself (KTU 1.3 V 27–32).Шаблон:Sfn She fails in this effort.Шаблон:Sfn Subsequently she assists the latter god in convincing Athirat to act as a mediator on his behalf.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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).Шаблон:Sfn She then seemingly joins Athirat and her servant Qodesh-wa-Amrur in their journey to El's dwelling.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

After Baal's death at the hands of Mot, Anat mourns him.Шаблон:Sfn She also shows concern about the fate of the people (KTU 1.6 I 6).Шаблон:Sfn Shapash, 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.Шаблон:Sfn Afterwards, Anat announces Baal's death to El, who decides that it will be necessary to appoint a substitute king.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The surviving sections pose a problem for interpreters, as apparently even though Anat has previously buried Baal, she is actively looking for him afterwards.Шаблон:Sfn It has been suggested that she only buried a substitute, rather than the real Baal.Шаблон:Sfn When the story resumes after the coronation of a temporary king, Attar, followed by a large lacuna (estimated to be around 30 lines), Anat threatens Mot.Шаблон:Sfn She kills him, and subsequently threshes his remain with a blade, winnows them with a sieve, burns them in a fire, grinds them with a millstone, and finally scatters them for birds to eat.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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)Шаблон:Sfn), who complains to the weather god about his treatment at her hands.Шаблон:Sfn

Epic of Aqhat

Шаблон:Main Another long Ugaritic narrative work, the Epic of Aqhat (KTU 1.17-19),Шаблон:Sfn also features Anat,Шаблон:Sfn though for the most part it focuses on humans rather than gods.Шаблон:Sfn Many details of the plot are uncertain due to the state of preservation of the tablets.Шаблон:Sfn The eponymous character is the son of a legendary king, Danel.Шаблон:Sfn At an early point in the narrative, Danel's son receives a bow from the craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis.Шаблон:Sfn Anat apparently desires to obtain it and asks the human to give it to her, but she is rebuked.Шаблон:Sfn 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!").Шаблон:Sfn Anat demands permission to punish him for what she perceives as impiety from El, which the senior god grants her.Шаблон:Sfn She invites Aqhat to a hunt, but in secret she orders a certain Yatipan (described as a "Sutean warrior"Шаблон:Sfn) to kill him.Шаблон:Sfn However, as a result of his assault the bow is broken, which enrages Anat further.Шаблон:Sfn Aqhat's body is subsequently devoured by birds of prey, and unnamed messengers inform Danel that Anat is complicit in his disappearance.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Surviving fragments indicate that Anat herself does not face repercussions.Шаблон:Sfn

Other myths

Due to the presence of the word btlt, which is a very common epithet of Anat,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn In the past, it was proposed that Shapash or one of the Kotharat might be meant instead.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn a mortal princess.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn This term was also applied to the moon god Yarikh (n’mn ‘lm, "most handsome of the gods;" n’mn is the masculine form of the same word).Шаблон:Sfn

Anat appears alongside Ashtart in KTU 1.114.Шаблон:Sfn During a banquet organized by El, Yarikh, who in this composition behaves like a dog, possibly due to engaging in alcohol consumption,Шаблон:Sfn receives pieces of meat from her and Ashtart.Шаблон:Sfn The goddesses are subsequently rebuked by a nameless servant of El,Шаблон:Sfn who complains that they offer choice cuts of meat to a dog.Шаблон:Sfn 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 caused by his drunkenness. The drunkenness is described in the same myth.Шаблон:Sfn

Egyptian reception

Файл:Anat and Ramesses II.JPG

A statue of Anat and Ramesses II from Tanis.

It is commonly assumed that Anat was introduced to Egypt by the Hyksos,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn who settled there during the Second Intermediate Period.Шаблон:Sfn They ruled the Nile Delta for approximately one century, with Avaris serving as their capital.Шаблон:Sfn Richard H. Wilkinson cites the name of the ruler Anat-her as evidence for the Hyksos worshiping Anat.Шаблон:Sfn However, according to Christiane Zivie-Coche, the attestations of this goddess tied to the Hyksos are limited to a single theophoric name.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn She proposes that recovering the former Hyksos territory increased the frequency of interactions with various cultures of the Mediterranean coast and the broader Ancient Near East, among them Ugarit. This in turn led to more foreign influences finding their way into Egyptian religion, culture and language.Шаблон:Sfn As of 2011, there was no material evidence for the presence of Anat in religious contexts before the reign of Ramesses II. Other deities sharing her origin, such as Resheph and Haurun, had already appeared in records dating further back, to the times of Amenhotep II.Шаблон:Sfn

In the past, it was often argued that the worshipers of foreign deities were chiefly prisoners of war brought to Egypt, but textual sources instead indicate that the pharaohs, the clergy of Ptah and ordinary citizens could all be involved in their veneration.Шаблон:Sfn Two temples dedicated to Anat have been identified in Egypt, one in Tanis (part of the temple complex of MutШаблон:Sfn) and another in Hibis.Шаблон:Sfn The Egyptians also built a temple dedicated to her in BeisanШаблон:Sfn during the reign of Ramesses III.Шаблон:Sfn Izak Cornelius additionally lists a festival of Anat celebrated in Gaza alongside the attestations connected to the Egyptian reception of this goddess Шаблон:Sfn It is known from an Egyptian ostracon dated to the thirteenth century BCE,Шаблон:Sfn a copy of a letter from a scribe named Ipuy to a certain Bak-en-amun, a garrison host commander.Шаблон:Sfn It describes the state of affairs in the area under his supervision, but details pertaining to the festival of Anat are not preserved.Шаблон:Sfn 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. Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Egyptian theophoric names 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 or Horus.Шаблон:Sfn

Anat is characterized as warlike in Egyptian sources, similarly as in Ugarit.Шаблон:Sfn She was also called "the mistress of heaven".Шаблон:Sfn 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'.Шаблон:Sfn In visual arts, she was portrayed wearing the atef,Шаблон:Sfn a type of crown associated with Upper Egypt,Шаблон:Sfn and wielding either a spear and a shield, a fenestrated battle axe, or possibly the was-scepter, though this utensil is better attested in association with Ashtart.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

The pharaoh Ramesses II was particularly devoted to Anat,Шаблон:Sfn according to Wilkinson, because of her warlike character.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn A statue from the period of his reign depicts Anat with her hand placed on his shoulder.Шаблон:Sfn It comes from a temple located in Tanis.Шаблон:Sfn Both the goddesses and the pharaoh are identified in an accompanying inscription.Шаблон:Sfn He also named one of his daughters (Bint-Anat, "daughter of Anat"), his war hound ("Anat is strength") and his sword after the goddess.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn One of his successors, Ramesses III, referred to Anat as the goddess responsible for protecting him in battle.Шаблон:Sfn

Anat retained her role in the Egyptian pantheon through the first millennium BCE, up to the period of Roman rule.Шаблон:Sfn She is also among the deities depicted in the Dendera Temple complex from the Roman period.Шаблон:Sfn She also appears on a stele in Greco-Roman style alongside Khonsu and Mut.Шаблон:Sfn

Anat, Ashtart and Qetesh

The association between Anat and Ashtart is well attested in Egypt, and it is presumed that it was a direct adaptation of northern ideas about these two goddesses.Шаблон:Sfn Both of them could be regarded as daughters of Ra or Ptah.Шаблон:Sfn However, they are not always explicitly described as sisters.Шаблон:Sfn The myth Contest of Horus and Set for the Rule, dated to the period of the New Kingdom, is assumed to refer to both Anat and Astarte as prospective brides of Set. This interpretation has been questioned in Egyptology since the 1970s.Шаблон:Sfn Objections to the translation were also raised in the field of Ugaritic studies: Neal H. Walls suggested in 1992 that the interpretation of this text might involve a misunderstanding. According to Mark Smith, as of 2014, no evidence has been provided to decidedly settle the academic dispute in favor of this view.Шаблон:Sfn

Anat and Ashtart appear alongside a third goddess, Qetesh, in the inscription on the so-called "Winchester College stele", which depicts only one figure, despite three names being listed.Шаблон:Sfn This object has been used to argue for the view that Qetesh, much like the other two deities, had to be a major goddess in a similar area of ancient Syria.Шаблон:Sfn In particular, attempts were made to identify her with Athirat, 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 pantheon of the city.Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, while Anat and Ashtart do appear together in Ugarit, there is no parallel group which would also include Athirat.Шаблон:Sfn A different proposal is to treat the three goddesses as one and the same.Шаблон:Sfn However, Peggy L. Day points out that prior to the Hellenistic period, 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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, despite her name being derived from a root known from Semitic languages, qdš.Шаблон:Sfn Izak Cornelius characterizes the importance assigned to the stela in past scholarship as "exaggerated".Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn This led Cornelius to tentatively propose that the inscription might be a forgery.Шаблон:Sfn The provenance of the stela remains unknown, and it is apparently now lost.Шаблон:Sfn

Other Bronze Age attestations

Anat was worshiped in Emar, a city located on the banks of the Euphrates in modern Syria, though her importance there was small, especially in comparison with her status in Ugarit.Шаблон:Sfn The earliest academic survey of the deities mentioned in the corpus recovered from this site was prepared by Gary Beckman and published in 2002. It did not include Anat at all, though in 1996 there was identified a possible reference to a toponym derived from her name.Шаблон:Sfn The proposal that a theophoric name invoking her, Anat-ummī, in present the text Emar 216:6 (and passim) is also accepted today.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

William W. Hallo and Hayim Tadmor identified a possible reference to Anat in theophoric names in a lawsuit from Tel Hazor with the element ḫa-nu-ta.Шаблон:Sfn The text has been dated to the period between the eighteenth and sixteenth centuries BCE.Шаблон:Sfn A single theophoric name, Anati, is also known from Byblos.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

In April 2022, media reports referred to an uninscribed head of a statue discovered by a farmer in the Gaza Strip as a depiction of Anat.Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn The identification of individual deities of the region in art is considered difficult without accompanying inscriptions,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

The logogram ^dNIN.URTA as a representation of Anat

In 1990, Nadav Na'aman 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,Шаблон:Sfn designates Anat.Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn even though logographic writing of other major deity names is well attested in other western text corpora from the late Bronze Age.Шаблон:Sfn He argues that the shared character of Anat and Ninurta as warlike deities would make such an association easy to accept in antiquity.Шаблон:Sfn This conclusion is also supported by Gebhard J. Selz.Шаблон:Sfn 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 theonyms of Sumerian origin.Шаблон:Sfn 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 incantations and exorcisms, 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.Шаблон:Sfn Based on Na'aman's theory, it has subsequently been proposed that the temple of ^dNIN.URTA , where Abdi-Ashirta mustered his troops according to the Amarna letter number 74, line 36, should be understood as belonging to Anat.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn However, in a more recent summary of plausible proposals regarding the identity of this presently anonymous deity, Gary Beckman only lists Resheph, 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 proposed that a uniquely local deity, known as Il Imari (or Ḫamari), "the Emariote god," is the one indicated.Шаблон:Sfn Both DINGIR (to be read as Il) i-ma-riШаблон:Sfn and ^dḪa-ma-ri are attested in Emariote sources.Шаблон:Sfn Michael P. Streck does accept the view that Anat was regarded as analogous to Ninurta in Amurru and further south, in Canaan. Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Yoram Cohen considers Resheph, Il Imari and Attar, suggested by Daniel Arnaud, to be plausible identification proposals.Шаблон:Sfn

The Elkunirša myth

According to Daniel Schwemer, it is sometimes assumed that a goddess designated by the logogram ^dIŠTAR in the myth of Elkunirša (CTH 342) which is known from Hittite archives might be Anat (or perhaps Ashtart). Шаблон:Sfn This proposal is not universally accepted,Шаблон:Sfn and according to Steve A. Wiggins there is no indication that the characters present in it necessarily match these known from Ugaritic mythology.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The origin of this text itself is also a matter of scholarly dispute.Шаблон:Sfn Daniel Schwemer considers it to be unknown.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Wiggins assumes that even if it originated in a Canaanite area, it likely went through a number of changes during its transmission.Шаблон:Sfn Itamar Singer argued that it was formed in a "cultural koinē consisting of an intricate fusion of Semitic and Hurrian elements."Шаблон:Sfn The role of ^dIŠTAR in the tale is to inform a weather god that the eponymous deity (whose name might be derived from an epithet of the Ugaritic god El) and his wife, Ašertu (Athirat), are plotting against him.Шаблон:Sfn Both Ugaritic BaalШаблон:Sfn and Hittite Tarḫunna have been proposed as the identity of the weather god.Шаблон:Sfn

First millennium BCE attestations

Mesopotamian sources

Файл:Shamsh-res-usur, governor of Mari and Suhi.jpg

The stele of Šamaš-reš-uṣur, with Anat depicted on the far right.

The city of Anat is attested as the main cult center of Anat in Mesopotamia based on sources from the eighth century BCE.Шаблон:Sfn The E-šuzianna temple, according to later inscriptions already patronized by the Old Babylonian king Hammurabi, remained in use.Шаблон:Sfn While the surrounding area, still known as Suhum, came under the control of Assyria, local culture and religion in the first millennium BCE were instead influenced by Babylonia.Шаблон:Sfn Next to Anat, the main deity of her city was Adad, but it is not known how the relation between them was conceptualized.Шаблон:Sfn Daniel Schwemer points out that the role of Adad's wife was most likely played by the weather goddess Shala, rather than Anat. The relationship between Adad and Shala is attested elsewhere in Mesopotamia.Шаблон:Sfn

A stela found in Babylon Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The other two deities are identified as Ishtar and Adad.Шаблон:Sfn All three of them are depicted in feathered crowns and robes decorated with rondels, following the Babylonian artistic convention of the period.Шаблон:Sfn It has been proposed that a fourth deity was originally depicted on a section which has since broken off, but this remains speculative.Шаблон:Sfn 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 (spade), Nabu (stylus) and Sin (crescent).Шаблон:Sfn The similarity of the artwork on this stele to the kudurru (boundary stone) of Nabu-shuma-ishkun has been noted.Шаблон:Sfn

Ninurta-kudurri-usur, the son of Šamaš-reš-uṣur,Шаблон:Sfn at one point renovated the E-šuzianna temple.Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Like his other inscriptions, this text in written in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, though it shows Assyrian and Aramaic influence as well.Шаблон:Sfn The name of Anat is written as an-at.Шаблон:Sfn Among the other gods mentioned are Shamash, Marduk, Adad, ApladadШаблон:Sfn and Misharu.Шаблон:Sfn

Phoenician sources

Anat's position in Phoenician religion is a topic of debate among researchers.Шаблон:Sfn Reconstruction of Phoenician religious beliefs is difficult due to the scarcity and the laconic nature of available sources. Cultural continuity with Ugaritic religion cannot be established.Шаблон:Sfn It has been argued that the small number of theophoric names invoking Anat and the lack of much other evidence pertaining to her cult might be an indication that Anat's worship in the west had declined compared to her status in the second millennium BCE.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Izak Cornelius goes as far as arguing that she outright disappeared from many of the local pantheons,Шаблон:Sfn but Peggy L. Day argues against this conclusion.Шаблон:Sfn

Four inscribed votive objects dedicated to Anat have been discovered in Idalion on Cyprus.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn A bilingual Phoenician-Greek inscription, the Anat-Athena bilingual has also been found in Larnakas tis Lapithou.Шаблон:Sfn The Greek version refers to "Athena Soteria Nike" instead of Anat,Шаблон:Sfn presumably due to the shared marital nature and, according to Peggy L. Day, the characterization of both as "non-sexually active, non-reproductive goddesses."Шаблон:Sfn Comparisons between Anat and Athena have also been made by modern researchers of Greek religion, such as Walter Burkert, who highlighted the similarities in iconography of martial deities excavated in Greece (especially statuettes referred to with the term Palladion) and Syria.Шаблон:Sfn The goddess referred to as Athena by Philo of Byblos has also been argued to be Anat.Шаблон:Sfn Philo states that Athena's sister was Persephone, who might be simply the Greek goddess in this case, as she was worshiped in Samaria; a connection with Ugaritic Arsay cannot be proven.Шаблон:Sfn 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, rather than Phoenician mythology, and therefore not entire reliable for the study of earlier periods.Шаблон:Sfn

The identification of the deity ^dA-na-ti ba-a-ti DINGIR.MEŠ,Шаблон:Sfn possibly to be read as Anat-Bayt’el,Шаблон:Sfn in the treaty between Esarhaddon and king Baal of Tyre with Anat is considered implausible.Шаблон:Sfn Day notes that while such proposals are present in scholarship, the name might also be an unrelated compound noun.Шаблон:Sfn While it is conventionally assumed that Anat-Bayt’el was one of the main deities of Tyre, Karel van der Toorn 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 instead.Шаблон:Sfn

The assertion that Tanit, worshiped in Carthage, was the same deity as Anat can be found in older literature,Шаблон:Sfn for example in the publications of William F. Albright. According to Steve A. Wiggins, such assertions should be treated cautiously,.Шаблон:Sfn It cannot necessarily be assumed that Tanit corresponds to any major goddess from the second millennium.Шаблон:Sfn

Hebrew Bible

The only certain references to Anat in the Hebrew Bible are the theophoric name Shamgar ben Anat (Judges 3:31), and the place names Beth-Anath (Joshua 19:38 and Judges 1:33)Шаблон:Sfn Two further possible examples are the toponym Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1) and the homophonouns name Anathoth (Nehemiah 10:20).Шаблон:Sfn Steve A. Wiggins based on available evidence concludes that Anat was only "vestigially present" in the Kingdom of Israel.Шаблон:Sfn Karel van der Toorn reaches a similar conclusion.Шаблон:Sfn

Most researchers agree that the single verse which mentions Shamgar ben Anat and his victory over six hundred Philistines was a late addition to the Book of Judges, and that it most likely represents an entirely fictitious account, possibly inspired by better known feats attributed to Samson or soldiers of David.Шаблон:Sfn Nili Shupak suggests that "ben Anat" should be interpreted as a cognomen designating its bearer as a warrior 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.Шаблон:Sfn The analogous name bn ‘nt is known from an inscribed arrowhead dated to the eleventh century BCE and from a seal with a Hebrew inscription of unknown provenance dated to the eight or seventh century BCE.Шаблон:Sfn An alternate proposal, originally formulated by William F. Albright, is that ben Anat simply indicates that Shamgar was born in Beth Anat. This option is considered unlikely by Shupak.Шаблон:Sfn

The proposal that ‘annôt in the Masoretic Text 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 associated with human sexuality, and as such can be associated with the described licentious behaviour pertaining to the worship of the golden calf.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The proposal that the Queen of Heaven from the Book of Jeremiah (7:18, 44:17) might be Anat,Шаблон:Sfn while reliant on well attested Ugaritic and Egyptian epithets, is also considered implausible.Шаблон:Sfn

Disputed proposals

Two possible theonyms with Anat as an element have been identified in Aramaic texts from the fifth century BCEШаблон:Sfn Elephantine, ‘ntyhw and ‘ntbyt’l.Шаблон:Sfn However, in both cases the element ‘nt might instead be a common noun.Шаблон:Sfn It has been argued that they are genitival constructs, respectively "Anat of Yahu" and "Anat of Bethel,"Шаблон:Sfn the latter possibly corresponding to the deity Anat-Bayt’el known from the treaty between Esarhaddon and king Baal of Tyre.Шаблон:Sfn Bayt’el or Bethel might have been the eponymous god of the settlement Bethel, tentatively identified with modern Bet Laha, located Шаблон:Convert west of Aleppo. Шаблон:Sfn The element Yahu is presumed to correspond to Yahweh, the national god of the Israelites.Шаблон:Sfn It has been argued that both ‘ntyhw and ‘ntbyt’l should be understood as consorts of the male gods mentioned in their names.Шаблон:Sfn However, it was already questioned in the 1990s if the names should be translated as "Anat, consort of Yahu" and "Anat, consort of Bethel,"Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn

An Aramaic inscription from Egypt mentioning a priest of Anat is known, but its authenticity has been called into question by Ackerman.Шаблон:Sfn It is a part of the Michaelides collection,Шаблон:Sfn multiple objects from which are known for repeated documentational irregularities. The irregularities suggest that they might be inauthentic.Шаблон:Sfn

It is sometimes argued that the goddess Atargatis, worshiped in modern Syria in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, represented a fusion of Anat and Ashtart.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn This proposal is based on William F. Albright'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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn She suggests that the proposal requires "critical reassessment."Шаблон:Sfn

Comparative scholarship

In the 1960s it has been argued that the Hindu goddess Kālī, 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 and that therefore that her character might have been influenced by them.Шаблон:Sfn 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, who threw himself under her feet.Шаблон:Sfn Marvin H. Pope in 1977 asserted 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 waistШаблон:Sfn until she is pacified by a message of peace sent by Baal.Шаблон:Sfn

References

Bibliography

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External links

• Шаблон:Commons category-inline
• Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur 10 and Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur 11, two inscriptions from Suhum mentioning Anat, in the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus