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.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.