ANATHOTH (an'a-thoth), (Heb. rtnw, an-au: Moth', answers, i. e., to prayer).
1. One of the towns belonging to the priests in the tribe of Benjamin, and as such a city of refuge (Josh. xxi :18 ; Jer. i ). It occurs also in 2 Sam. xxiii :27 ; Ezra ii :23 ; Neh. vii :27, but is chiefly memorable as the birthplace and usual residence of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. i :1 ; xi :21-23 ; xxix : 27), whose name it seems to have borne in the time of Jerome, 'Anathoth, quer hodie afitellatur feremi•' (Onomast. 5.7'. Anathoth). The same writer (Commen,t. in Ice i :I) places Anathoth three Roman miles north of Jerusalem, which corresponds with the twenty stadia assigned by Josephus (Antui. x:7, 3). Professor Robin son appears to have discovered this place in the present village of Anata, at the distance of an hour and a quarter from Jerusalem. It is seated on a broad ridge of hills, and commands an ex tensive view of the eastern slope of the moun tainous tract of Benjamin, including also the valley of the Jordan, and the northern part of the Dead Sea. It seems to have been once a walled
town and a place of strength. It is now a small and very poor village. From the vicinity a favor ite kind of building stone is carried to Jerusalem. Troops of donkeys are met with employed in this service, a hewn stone being slung on each side ; the larger stones are transported on cam els (Robinson, Researches, ii :to9 ; Raumer's Pal astina, p. 169).
2. Eighth of the nine sons of Becher, a son of Benjamin (t Chron. vii :8), B. C. between 1856 and 165o.
3. One of the chief Israelites that sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x :19) B. C. about 445.