Anax (ἄναξ, from earlier ϝαναξ wanax) is an ancient Greek word for "(tribal) king, lord, (military) leader".[1] It is one of the two Greek titles traditionally translated as "king", the other being basileus. Anax is the more archaic term of the two, inherited from the Mycenaean period, and is notably used in Homeric Greek, e.g. of Agamemnon.
The word anax derives from the stem wanakt- (nominative ϜΑΝΑΚΤΣ, genitive ϜΑΝΑΚΤΟΣ), and appears in the Mycenaean language, written in Linear B script as wa-na-ka[2] (𐀷𐀩𐀏), and in the feminine form as wa-na-sa,[3] (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. Ionian); other dialects retained the digamma until well after the classical era.
The word Anax in the Iliad refers to Agamemnon (ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν, i.e. "leader of men") and 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 Bronze Age Greece. The Linear B adjective wanákteros (𐀷𐀩𐀏𐀳𐀫, wa-na-ka-te-ro), "of the [household of] the king, royal"[4], and the Greek word ἀνάκτορον, anáktoron, "royal [dwelling], palace"[5] 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. In Mycenaean times, a gwasileus appears to be a lower-ranking official (in one instance a chief of a guild), while in Homer, Anax is already an archaic title, used for legendary heroes and gods rather than for contemporary kings.
The Greek title has been compared to Sanskrit वणिज् 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").