Archaic inscription [...]Σ ϜΑΝΑΚΤΣ ([...]s wanakts) on ceramic fragment.

Anax is an ancient Greek word for "king". It is one of the two Greek titles traditionally translated this way, the other being basileus, which also translates as sovereign. Anax can be interpreted more accurately as "high king". Image File history File links Size of this preview: 724 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1200 × 994 pixel, file size: 792 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This picture was reworked by the Bilderwerkstatt. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 724 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1200 × 994 pixel, file size: 792 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This picture was reworked by the Bilderwerkstatt. ... For other uses, see Monarch (disambiguation). ... A silver coin of the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter. ... For other uses, see Monarch (disambiguation). ... A high king is a king who holds a position of seniority over a group of other kings. ...

The word anax derives from the stem wanakt-' (ϜΑΝΑΞ, ϜΑΝΑΚΤΟΣ), and appears in Mycenaean written as wa-na-ka (𐀷𐀩𐀏}}). The digamma ϝ was pronounced /w/ and was dropped very early by eastern Greek dialects (e.g. Ionian). Mycenaean is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, before the Dorian invasion. ... Digamma (upper case , lower case ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet, used primarily as a Greek numeral. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος) is a variant, or variety, of a language spoken in a certain geographical area. ... Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the so called Attic-Ionic dialectal group of the ancient Greek language, which was itself a member of the Greek branch of Indoeuropean language family. ...

The word Anax in the Iliad refers to Agamemnon (ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν, i.e. "Commander-in-Chief") and Priam, kings who exercise overlordship over other kings. This possible hierarchy of one "anax" exercising power over several local "basileis" probably hints to a proto-feudal political organization of Bronze Age Greece. The Linear B word wanakteros (𐀷𐀩𐀏𐀳𐀫, wa-na-ka-te-ro), meaning "royal", and the Greek word anaktoron (ἀνάκτορον), meaning "palace", are derived from wanax. 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 "king" of basileus in Classical Greece is due to a shift in terminology that took place during the Greek Dark Ages. In Mycenaean times, a gwasileus appears to be a lower-ranking official, while in Homer, Anax is already an archaic title, used for legendary heroes and gods rather than for contemporary kings. title page of the Rihel edition of ca. ... The so-called Mask of Agamemnon. Discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae. ... King Priam killed by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, detail of an Attic red-figure amphora In Greek mythology, Priam (Greek Πρίαμος, Priamos) was the king of Troy during the Trojan War, and youngest son of Laomedon. ... This article is about the ancient syllabary. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is... A silver coin of the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter. ... The Greek Dark Ages (ca. ...

The Greek title has been compared to Sanskrit vanij, a word for "merchant", but in the Rigveda once used as a title of Indra. The word could then be from PIE *wen-ag'-, roughly "bringer of spoils" (compare the etymology of lord, "giver of bread"; compare also the Vanir). The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... The Rigveda (Sanskrit , a compound of praise, verse[1] and knowledge) is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods. ... For other uses, see Indra (disambiguation). ... This article is about the baked good, for other uses see Pie (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Lord (disambiguation). ... Vanir is the name of one of the two groups of gods in Norse mythology, the other and more well known being the Æsir. ...

Further Reading

• Palaima, Thomas G. (1995). "The Nature of the Mycenaean Wanax: Non-Indo-European Origins and Priestly Functions". In: Paul Rehak (Ed.), The Role of the Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean (= Aegaeum 11), Liège, pp. 119-139.
• Yamagata, Naoko (1997). "ἄναξ and βασιλεύς in Homer". Classical Quarterly 47: 1-14.