Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Anaulikutsai’x 19AnankeGoddess of destiny. Greek. Considered to be auniversal presence. Depicted holding a spindle.AnantaSnake god. Hindu (Puranic). One of a group ofseven snake deities or MAHANAGAS.Anantamukhi (with the face of Ananta)Deification of literature. Buddhist. One of agroup of twelve DHARANIS. Color: green. Attributes:staff and water jar with treasure.AnantesaMinor deity. Hindu (Puranic). One of a group ofeight emancipated “lords of knowledge” orVIDYESVARAS considered to be aspects of ŠIVA.ANATORIGIN Canaanite and Phoenician [northernIsrael, Lebanon and Syria]. Fertility and wargoddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP From prehistorictimes (circa 2500 BC) until AD 200 or later.SYNONYMS Anath; Lady of the Mountain; Antit(Egyptian).CENTER(S) OF CULT Ugarit [Ras Šamra] and generallyin places down the corn-growing coastalregions of the eastern Mediterranean.ART REFERENCES named specifically in Egyptianhieroglyphic on a stele from Bethsan; describedon various other votive inscriptions, clayplaques etc.LITERARY SOURCES Ugaritic texts from RasŠamra; various offering lists.The sister of BAAL, Anat is primarily a fertilitygoddess. In art she is usually depicted naked,with breasts and vaginal area prominent. Oftenshe wears a coiffure similar to that of the Egyptiangoddess HATHOR, with whom at times shehas been closely linked. Anat is described variouslyas “mother of the gods” and “mistress ofthe sky.” In addition to her fertility role, she is ayouthful and aggressive goddess of war, a capacityin which she was adopted by Egypt from theend of the Middle Kingdom (early eighteenthcentury BC) and particularly through the HyksosDynasty when she was prominent in LowerEgypt. A sanctuary was dedicated to her at Tanisand she was identified as a daughter of the sungod RE with warlike attributes of lance, battle-axand shield. She impressed Rameses II whosedaughter was called Bin-Anat (daughter ofAnat). Rameses III adopted her as his “shield” inbattle.The Ras Šamra stele describes her as “Antit,queen of heaven and mistress of all the gods.”Known as the “virgin Anat,” she indulged inorgies of violence “wading up to her thighs inblood and gore.” She may be one of a triad ofgoddesses with ATHIRAT and Ašera. In the classicCanaanite confrontation legend, after the primordialbattle between good and evil in the guiseof Baal and MOT, Anat searched out the body ofBaal. She buried it and caught up with his slayer,Mot, to take appropriate retribution. She cleavedand winnowed, burned and ground Mot in a curiousvariation of a common theme associated elsewherewith gods of vegetation (see OSIRIS). Shealso features in the Legend of Aqhat, in which shesends an eagle to slay the youth when he refusesto give her his magical bow.Anaulikutsai’xRiver goddess. Bella Coola Indian [BritishColumbia, Canada]. Said to oversee the arrivaland departure of the salmon in the rivers. Shelives in a cave called Nuskesiu’tsta.