BET (H)-ANATH

BET (H)-ANATH (Heb. בֵּית עֲנַת), Canaanite city named after the goddess Anath. Beth-Anath may possibly be mentioned in the list of cities conquered by Thutmosis III in c. 1469 B.C.E.   (no. 97. but it definitely appears in the records of the campaigns of both Seti I in c. 1300 B.C.E. (between Tyre and Kadesh) and of Rameses II in c. 1280 B.C.E. (before Kanah). Although it is listed with the cities in the territory of the tribe of naphtali (Josh. 19:38), this tribe could not overcome it and only imposed tribute on the inhabitants (Judg. 1:33). Some scholars locate it in Lower Galilee at Bu'eina in the valley of Beth-Netophah or at el-Bina in the Bet ha-Kerem valley, but the archaeological survey makes a location in Upper Galilee more probable and its identification with Safd el-Batikh has been suggested. In talmudic times a Beth-Anath is mentioned as a city outside Ereẓ Israel with a mixed Jewish-gentile population (Tosef., Kil. 2:16). The Zeno Papyri from 259 B.C.E. contain a reference to a vineyard at Baitoanaia. It has also been suggested that the Batnaea mentioned by Eusebius (Onom. 30:5; 52:24) refers to the same site. (If so, the Caesarea 15 mi. (24 km.) distant would be Caesarea Philippi.) -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aharoni, Land, index; Avi-Yonah, Land, 143; EM, 2 (1965), 96f.; Press, Ereẓ, 1 (19512), 95–96; S. Lieberman, Tosefta ki-Feshutah, Zera'im (1955), 620. (Michael Avi-Yonah)