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ANAT

(Heb. ʿănāṯ)

A Northwest Semitic goddess of war. Anat is portrayed unambiguously in the Ugaritic texts wielding bow and sword against both human and supernatural enemies, and is even described as joyously wading through the blood of slain warriors. Scholars agree that she plays a supportive role in her brother Baal’s quest for a palace and the kingship that a royal residence implies. The consensus view that Anat is portrayed at Ugarit as a sexually active “fertility-goddess” and consort of her brother Baal has been recently challenged. The challengers claim that no text unambiguously refers to Anat having intercourse or bearing children, and impugn the notion that all female deities are sexually active and reproductive fertility goddesses.

Anat the goddess is nowhere clearly mentioned in the OT, though her name may appear as a component of the proper name Shamgar ben Anath (e.g., Judg. 3:31) and the place name Beth-anath (Josh. 19:38; Judg. 1:33). On the basis of conjectural emendation, proposals have been made to read a reference to the goddess in Exod. 32:18; Hos. 14:8(MT 9). Several scholars have suggested that the “Queen of Heaven” in Jer. 7:18; 44:17 is Anat, and one has understood Job 31:1 as referring to Anat by the Hebrew equivalent of her Ugaritic epithet btlt (“virgin”). Allusions to Anat have been proposed for Judg. 5; Cant. 7. Discovery of an Anat temple in Beth-shan suggests that mentioned at 1 Sam. 31:10.

Bibliography. P. L. Day, “Anat,” DDD, 36-43; N. H. Walls, The Goddess Anat in Ugaritic Myth. SBLDS 135 (Atlanta, 1992).

Peggy L. Day

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ANAT

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)