Anax
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. 2.22.7,
10.38.3; Cic.
de Nat. Deor. 3.31;
Ael. VH 5.4;
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.
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L.S]