The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Anak
(´nk) (KEY) , according to a folk tradition in the Bible, an ancestor of the Anakim, a tribe of giants inhabiting Hebron and its vicinity at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Arba is cited as Anaks father, and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai as his sons. According to early tradition in the Book of Joshua, Joshua and Caleb practically eradicated the tribe.