5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.
The Canaanite gods were worshipped by the peoples of the Levant, including the Phoenicians, great navigators and traders of the Mediterranean. Headed by El and the storm god Baal, they were honored in cities such as Ugarit, Tyre, and Carthage. Their myths, rediscovered on the Ugarit tablets, closely echo the biblical traditions.
Worship followed Baal's agricultural cycle, with autumn festivals calling for the rains and laments for his descent into the world of the dead. The faithful worshipped at the "high places" (bamot) and in city temples, with stone steles, incense, and animal sacrifices.
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At a glance
Anat (Ugaritic: 𐎓𐎐𐎚, ʿAnatu; Hebrew: עֲנָת, ʿAnat; Egyptian: ꜥntjt) is the preeminent Northwest Semitic goddess of ferocious warfare, the hunt, and martial valor, famously commemorated in the alphabetic cuneiform mythological poems unearthed at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast of modern Syria). Bearing the standard title 'Maiden' (btlt ʿnt), she embodies youthful autonomy and martial fury, rejecting traditional domestic and maternal confines to command weapons of bronze, bow, and arrow that ancient Levantine society typically reserved for men. Within the epic Baal Cycle, Anat stands as the most loyal ally of the weather god Baal-Hadad: she conducts an enigmatic ritual slaughter of human foes (KTU 1.3 II), boldly pressures patriarch El to grant permission for Baal's palace on Mount Saphon, and upon Baal's death inside the maw of Motu (Death), undertakes an agonizing search, mourning him with maternal tenderness before dismembering the lord of death with sword, winnowing sieve, and fire (KTU 1.6 II). In the Epic of Aqhat (KTU 1.17–1.19), her passion for weaponry drives her to demand the composite bow crafted by divine artisan Kothar-wa-Khasis; when prince Aqhat scorns her offers, she orchestrates his assassination through her flying henchman Yatpan. During the Egyptian New Kingdom, her veneration spread into the Nile Delta, where Nineteenth Dynasty monarchs, most notably Ramesses II, revered her as a personal guardian in battle, depicting her with the atef crown, shield, lance, and battle axe.
Genealogy according to Ciclo de Baal (KTU 1.1–1.6); Épico de Aqhat (KTU 1.17–1.19); Liturgia real KTU 1.108; Documentos de Mari (deusa Ḫanat de Suhum); Papiro egípcio Chester Beatty I e Coleção Sallier; Inscrições fenícias de Idalion (KAI 38–40); Peggy L. Day (1991, 1992, 1999); Neal H. Walls (1992); Theodore J. Lewis (2011, 2020); Mark S. Smith (1994, 2009)
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Sources and further reading
Primary sources
Scribes of Ugarit & Ilimilku (edition and translation by Mark S. Smith), Baal Cycle of Ugarit (cuneiform tablets KTU 1.1–1.6, Louvre Museum). translation: Academic translation and textual apparatus in 'The Ugaritic Baal Cycle', indexed in the Mythos Atlas repository. read
Scribe Ilimilku of Ugarit, Epic of Aqhat (cuneiform tablets KTU 1.17–1.19 from Ras Shamra). translation: Annotated edition of the legend of Danel and Aqhat documented in the Mythos Atlas repository. read
Chancery and Mythological Tradition of the Levant, Mythological and Epigraphic Corpus of the Cycle of Haddu and Anat (KTU 1.1-1.6). translation: Analytical view, cataloguing of Ras Shamra tablets and transcription on the Wikipedia portal. read
Studies
Day, Peggy L., Anat: A Examination of the Goddess in Ugaritic and Biblical Literature (em Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible). E.J. Brill, Leiden / Grand Rapids, 1999. open
Editorial team of the Wikimedia Encyclopedic Project, Entry Anat: History, Origins in Mari, Epithets and Iconography. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. open
Egyptology and Ancient Near East Archaeology Team, Bintanath and the Inscriptions of Anat in the Time of Ramesses II. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. open
Collection and Visual Catalogue of the Goddess Anat, Iconographic Representations of Anat (Atef Crown, Weapons and Levantine Stelae). Wikimedia Commons, 2026. open
Name and epithets
The Ugaritic theonym ʿAnatu (written in alphabetic cuneiform as ʿnt) is philologically linked to the earlier Amorite goddess Ḫanat, attested in the eighteenth-century BCE royal archives of Mari as the tutelary divinity…
In the ancient sources
Baal Cycle (KTU 1.1–1.6), circa 1300–1200 BCE. Primary Levantine epic containing Anat's ritual slaughter, her fierce intercession before El, and her sacrificial destruction of Mot.
The myths
The Nocturnal Carnage and Lustral Cleansing of Anat (KTU 1.3 II). In a dramatic episode of the Baal Cycle, Anat bolts the doors of her estate in the valley and enters into a violent skirmish against human combatants bet…
Worship and archaeology
Sacrificial texts from Ugarit (including KTU 1.41 and KTU 1.87) document that Anat regularly received offerings of rams, cows, and bulls alongside other supreme gods.
How the god was depicted
Levantine and Egyptian iconography portrays Anat as a youthful, athletic woman, frequently depicted with large outspread wings in keeping with poetic descriptions of her rapid flight across the skies.
What scholars debate
Rejection of the 'Sexually Wanton Fertility Goddess' Construct. Early twentieth-century historians of religion routinely described Anat as an archetype of unrestrained sexuality and agricultural fertility.
After antiquity
With Phoenician maritime expansion across the Mediterranean, Anat's cult took root on Cyprus, where worshippers in Idalion syncretized her with the Greek warrior goddess Athena, sharing command over heroic battle and ci…
Did you know?
Pharaoh Ramesses II held such devotion to Anat that he named his eldest daughter Bintanath ('Daughter of Anat'), who later became Great Royal Wife and was interred in tomb QV71 in the Valley of the Queens.
Codex relic
Girdle of Heads. The war trophies she girds about her body after the slaughter, bathed in the blood of her enemies.
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