Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Anax 2.

by Various Authors

2. A surname or epithet of the gods in general, characterizing them as the rulers of the world; but the plural forms, Ἄνακες, or Ἄνακτες, or Ἄνακες παῖδες, were used to designate the Dioscuri. (Paus.. ii. 22. § 7, x. 38. § 3 ; Cic.. de Nat. Deor. iii. 31; Aelian. V. H. v. 4; Plut. Thes. 33.) In the second of the passages of Pausanias here referred to, in which he speaks of a temple of the Ἄνακες παῖδες at Amphissa, he states, that it was a doubtful point whether they were the Dioscuri, the Curetes, or the Cabeiri; and from this circumstance a connexion between Amphissa and Samothrace has been inferred. (Comp. Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 182, 1598.) Some critics identify the Anaces with the Enakim of the Hebrews. [L. S.]