Anax (grec ancien)

Anax (Greek: ἄναξ; from earlier ϝάναξ, wánax) is an ancient Greek word for "tribal chief, lord, (military) leader". It is one of the two Greek titles traditionally translated as "king", the other being basileus, and is inherited from Mycenaean Greece. It is notably used in Homeric Greek, e.g. for Agamemnon. The feminine form is anassa, "queen" (ἄνασσα, from wánassa, itself from *wánakt-ja). The word anax derives from the stem wanakt- (nominative *ϝάνακτς, genitive ϝάνακτος), and appears in Mycenaean Greek written in Linear B script as , wa-na-ka, and in the feminine form as 𐀷𐀙𐀭, wa-na-sa (later ἄνασσα, ánassa). The digamma ϝ was pronounced w and was dropped very early on, even before the adoption of the Phoenician alphabet, by eastern Greek dialects (e.g. Ionic Greek); other dialects retained the digamma until well after the classical era. The Greek title has been compared to Sanskrit , a word for "merchant", but in the Rigveda once used as a title of Indra. The word could then be from Proto-Indo-European *, roughly "bringer of spoils" (compare the etymology of lord, "giver of bread"). However, Robert Beekes argues there is no convincing IE etymology and the term is probably from the pre-Greek substrate. The word Anax in the Iliad refers to Agamemnon (ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν, anax andrōn, i.e. "leader of men") and to Priam, high kings who exercise overlordship over other, presumably lesser, kings. This possible hierarchy of one "anax" exercising power over several local "basileis" probably hints to a proto-feudal political organization of Aegean civilizations. The Linear B adjective , wa-na-ka-te-ro (wanákteros), "of [the household of] the king, royal", and the Greek word ἀνάκτορον, anáktoron, "royal [dwelling], palace" are derived from anax. Anax is also a ceremonial epithet of the god Zeus ("Zeus Anax") in his capacity as overlord of the Universe, including the rest of the gods. The meaning of basileus as "king" in Classical Greece is due to a shift in terminology during the Greek Dark Ages.