Thebes is a name borne by two of the most celebrated cities in the ancient world, Thebes in Bœotia, and Thebes in Egypt. Of the latter it is that we have here to speak in brief, referring those who wish for detailed information to the works of Wilkinson, especially his Modern Egypt and Thebes.
The name Thebes is corrupted from the Tápé of the ancient Egyptian language, the meaning of which appears to be ’the head,’ Thebes being the capital of the Thebais in Upper Egypt. It is termed in Scripture No and No-Ammon (Jer 46:25; Eze 30:14; Nah 3:8). Thebes was situate on both sides of the River Nile, and had canals cutting the land in all directions. It was probably the most ancient city of Egypt, and the residence in very early ages of Egyptian kings who ruled the land during several dynasties. The plain was adorned not only by large and handsome dwellings for man, but by temples and palaces, of whose grandeur words can give but a faint conception. Of these edifices there are still in existence ruins that astound and delight the traveler. The most ancient remains now existing are in the immense temple, or rather cluster of temples, of Karnak, the largest and most splendid ruin of which either ancient or modern times can boast, being the work of a number of successive monarchs, each anxious to surpass his predecessor by increasing the dimensions of the part he added. Osirtasen I, the contemporary of Joseph, is the earliest monarch whose name appears on the monuments of Thebes. On the western shore the chief points of interest are the palace and temple of Rameses II, erroneously called the Memnonium; the temples of Medinet Habu, the statue of Memnon, and the tombs of the kings. On the eastern shore are the temple of Luksor, and the temple of Karnak, already mentioned. ’It is impossible,’ says Robinson (Bib. Researches, i. 29), ’to wander among these scenes and behold these hoary yet magnificent ruins without emotions of astonishment and deep solemnity. Everything around testifies of vastness and of utter desolation. Here lay once that mighty city whose power and splendor were proverbial throughout the ancient world.’ Yet, like all earthly things, Thebes had her period of death. She sprang up, flourished, declined, and sank. Memphis rose to be her rival when Thebes began to part with her glory. She was plundered by Cambyses, and destroyed by Ptolemy Lathyrus. In Strabo’s time the city was already fallen; yet its remains then covered eighty stadia, and the inhabited part was divided into many separate villages, as the ruins now are portioned out between nine hamlets. The period in which Thebes enjoyed the highest prosperity Robinson considers to have been coeval with the reigns of David and Solomon. This, however, appears too late a date. From the passage in Nahum (Nah 3:8, sq.), it would seem that in his day (according to Josephus, cir. 750 B.C.) the city had suffered a terrible overthrow—how long previously is not recorded, for we do not know what conquest or what conqueror was here intended by the prophet. The walls of all the temples at Thebes are covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics, representing in general the deeds of the kings who founded or enlarged these structures. Many of these afford happy illustrations of Egyptian history.
See AMMON, or No-Ammon, or No.\par
Thebes. (Authorized Version No, the multitude of No. Populous No). A chief city of ancient Egypt, long the capital of the upper country, and the seat of the Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled over all Egypt, at the era of its highest splendor. It was situated, on both sides of the Nile, 400 or 500 miles from its mouth. The sacred name of Thebes was P-amen, "the abode of Amon", which the Greeks reproduced in their Diospolis, especially with the addition, the Great. No-amon is the name of Thebes, in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jer 46:25; Nah 3:8. Ezekiel uses No, simply to designate the Egyptian, seat of Amon. Eze 30:14; Eze 30:16, See No-Amon.
Its origin and early allusions to it. -- The origin of the city is lost in antiquity. Niebuhr is of opinion that Thebes was much older than Memphis, and that, "after the centre of Egyptian life was transferred to lower Egypt, Memphis acquired its greatness, through the ruin of Thebes." But both cities date from our earliest authentic knowledge of Egyptian history. The first allusion to Thebes, in classical literature, is the familiar passage of the Iliad, (ix. 381-385): "Egyptian Thebes, where are vast treasures laid up in the houses; where are a hundred gates, and from each two hundred men to forth with horses and chariots."
In the first century before Christ, Diodorus visited Thebes, and he devotes several sections of his general work, to its history and appearance. Though he saw the city, when it had sunk to quite secondary importance, he confirms the tradition of its early grandeur -- its circuit of 140 stadia, the size of its public edifices, the magnificence of its temples, the number of its monuments, the dimensions of its private houses, some of them four or five stories high -- all giving it an air of grandeur, and beauty, surpassing not only all other cities of Egypt, but of the world.
Monuments. -- The monuments of Thebes are the most reliable witnesses, for the ancient splendor of the city. These are found in almost equal proportions, upon both sides of the river. The plan of the city, as indicated by the principal monuments, was nearly quadrangular, measuring two miles from north to south, and four miles from east to west. Its four great landmarks were, Karnak and Luxor, upon the eastern or Arabian side, and Qoornah and Medeenet Haboo, upon the western or Libyan side. There are indications that each of these temples may have been connected, with those facing it, upon two sides by grand dromoi, lined with sphinxes and other colossal figures.
Upon the western bank, there was almost a continuous line of temples, and public edifices, for a distance of two miles, from Qoonah to Medeenet Haboo; and Wilkinson conjectures that, from a point near the latter, perhaps, in the line of the colossi, the "Royal street" ran down to the river, which was crossed by a ferry terminating at Luxor, on the eastern side. Behind this long range of temples, and palaces, are the Libyan hills, which for a distance of five miles are excavated, to the depth of several hundred feet, for sepulchral chambers. Some of these, in the number and variety of their chambers, the finish of their sculptures, and the beauty and freshness of their frescoes, are among the most remarkable monuments of Egyptian grandeur and skill.
The eastern side of the river is distinguished, by the remains of Lurer and Karnak, the latter, being of itself , a city of temples. The approach to Karnak, from the south, is marked by a series of majestic gateways and towers, which were the appendages, of later times, to the original structure. The temple properly faces the river, that is, toward the northwest.
The courts land properly connected, with this structure, occupy a space nearly 1800 feet square, and the buildings represent, almost very dynasty of Egypt. Ezekiel proclaims the destruction of Thebes, by the arm of Babylon, Eze 30:14-16, and Jeremiah predicted the same overthrow, Jer 46:25-26. The city lies today , a nest of Arab hovels, amid crumbling columns and drifting sands. The Persian invader, (Cambyses, B.C. 525), completed the destruction that the Babylonian had begun.
(See NO.)
See No.
By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., Samuel Krauss
Ancient and famous city of Greece; capital of Bœotia. Although there is no documentary evidence of the presence of Jews at Thebes in antiquity, it may be assumed that they resided there, since their coreligionists had lived from a very early period throughout Greece, including the neighboring cities of Athens and Corinth, while in the letter of Agrippa to the emperor Caius, Bœotiais described as inhabited by Jews (Philo, "Legatio ad Caium," § 36). At the time of the First Crusade a certain Tobias of Thebes is described as bringing Messianic prophecies from Salonica to Cairo ("J. Q. R." x. 148), and in Al-Ḥarizi's "Taḥkemoni" (ed. Lagarde, p. 92) mention is made of one Michael ben Caleb of Thebes. Abraham Zuṭra (or Zuṭa) of Thebes, moreover, was the author of a commentary on the Sifra (Zunz, in Asher's ed. of Benjamin of Tudela's "Itinerary," ii. 36; Michael, "Or ha-Ḥayyim," No. 86); for the study of the Midrashim was cultivated in Thebes as well as elsewhere in the Byzantine empire.
These scanty data are insufficient to determine the size of the Jewish community in Thebes, the earliest specific information in relation to which is derived from Benjamin of Tudela (ed. Grünhut, i. 15), who describes the city as a large one with more than 2,000 Jewish families, including the most skilful manufacturers of silk and purple in all Greece. Among them were many students of the Mishnah and of the Talmud; and they belonged to the foremost scholars of their age. At the head of the community stood R. Aaron Kuti, his brother R. Moses, R. Elijah Tortono, and R. Joktan; and their equals were not to be found in any of the Greek dominions except Constantinople. Of the large and prominent community of Thebes no further data exist.
THEBES.—See No.
(THEBAE)Titular see of Thebais Secunda, suffragan of Ptolemais, and the seat of a Coptic Catholic diocese. Thebes was the No-Amon of the Jews, the Nouit-Amen of the Egyptians (City or Kingdom of Amon), the Nia of the Assyrians, and the Diospolis of the Greeks, which is the exact translation of Nouit-Amen. The Egyptians also called it Per or Pi-Amen, the dwelling of Amon, and also Apet, whence, with the article Ta before the feminine name Apet, is derived Ta-Apet, or Tape, as it is called by the modern Copts, the Thebai of the Greeks. Thebes is mentioned three times in the Bible under the name of No-Amon in the Hebrew text, which the Vulgate each time renders incorrectly by Alexandria. Nahum (iii, 8-10) refers to the victories of Assurbanipal, King of Ninive, over Tanutamen, King of Egypt, as we now know from the cylinders of that sovereign (G. Smith, "History of Assurbanipal", 52-56). It is thought that Jeremias (xlvi, 25) and Ezechiel (xxx, 14-16) allude to the two campaigns of Nabuchodonosor against Thebes, which took place in 583 and 588 B.C.Originally a mere borough, Thebes grew by degrees, and as early as the twelfth dynasty its sovereigns dominated Egypt. Thenceforth also its god Amon-Ra, to whom the pharaohs had erected numerous monuments, became the foremost of the gods. halted for a time by the invasion of the Hyksos, the growth of Thebes continued under the pharaohs of the eighteenth and especially those of the nineteenth dynasty, who extended their domination to the sources of the Euphrates. When the sovereigns of Thebes had become degenerate they were replaced by the priests of the god Amon, who constituted themselves the twenty-first dynasty. They disappeared in turn and the capital of Egypt was then transferred to the Delta. The city began to fall away, especially after the Assyrian armies had captured and devastated it in 668 and 664 B.C. and Nabuchodonosor had twice rifled it of its treasures. However, as long as there were Egyptian sovereigns, even under the Ptolemies, work was done at the temple of Karnak, which was only abandoned under the Roman domination. Thebes then became a place of pilgrimage and sight-seeing. Christians established their churches in the temples, monks and laymen dwelt everywhere, preferably in the ancient tombs. The great earthquake of 27 B.C. caused some damage, but that which ruined the temples of Karnak must have occurred two or three centuries later.A see was established at Thebes at an early date. Ammonius of Diospolis assisted at the Council of Nicaea in 325, unless he was Bishop of Diospolis Parva (Harnack, "Mission and Ausbreitung des Christentums", II); Maletius was a partisan of Arius, according to Philostorgius and Nicetas Choniates ("Thesaurus orthodoxae fidei", V, 7); Hero apostatized under Julius the Apostate, according to Philostorgius (Hist. eccl., VII, 13); Stephen was Catholic metropolitan at the time of Photius, and Kalta was Jacobite metropolitan in 1086 (Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", II, 611). The Coptic diocese, created in 1895, has 15,000 Catholics to 300,000 Jacobite Copts and about 3,000,000 Mussulmans. There are 31 Coptic priests, 35 churches, besides 6 which belong to the Franciscans, 18 stations, 26 primary schools with about 500 pupils, 4 convents of Franciscans, 3 of Brothers of the Christian Schools, and 1 of native Sisters. The seminary which is used by the three Coptic Catholic dioceses has 17 students and is situated at Tahtah, the residence of the Bishop of Thebes.The ruins of Thebes are among the most beautiful in the world. The city was situated on both banks of the Nile, which is more than two miles wide at this point. On the right bank was the temple of Luxor, built by king Amenothes III and Rameses II, the great temple of Amon, and the great hypostylic hall of Karnak, the work of the pharaohs Rameses I, Seti I, and Rameses II, and which is 37 feet broad by 169 feet deep. A veritable fortress of 134 colossal columns divides it into three naves, forming a hall which has not its like in the world. The temples of Luxor and Karnak were joined by an alley nearly two miles long by about 3 3/4 miles wide, bordered by rams or criocephalous sphinxes. On the left side is Quournah, which begins the line of temples of which the Ramesseum is almost in the centre and Medinet-Habou at the southern extremity. A line drawn around all these monuments either from the right or the left bank describes a circuit of nearly 8 3/4 miles. Now Diodorus Siculus (I, 45) and Strabo (XVII, 46) give almost the same dimensions to the Diospolis of the first century before Christ. But in the time of its real splendour, according to Eustathius and Stephanus Byzantius, confirmed by other geographers and modern discoveries, Thebes was almost 400 stadia in circumference, or nearly 28 miles. It is probable, however, that these figures included not only the extent of the city, but also the entire territory of the commune.-----------------------------------LAGIER in Dict. de la Bible, S.V. No-Amon; BENEDITE, Guide Joanne: Egypte (Paris, 1900). Both these authors give a detailed bibliography.S. VAILHÉ Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
The city of Thebes was situated on the Nile River, over five hundred kilometres from its mouth. It was the most important city in Upper Egypt, and from 1570 to 1085 BC, the period of Egypt’s greatest power and splendour, it was the country’s capital. Its Hebrew name was No, and its god was Amon (Jer 46:25; Nah 3:8). The wealth that poured into Thebes during those five hundred years helped to make the city the most magnificent in all Egypt.
One reason for Thebes’ lengthy supremacy was the strong defence that the Nile River provided against enemy invasion. But these defences were not able to withstand the Assyrians, who in 663 BC plundered and destroyed the city (Eze 30:14-16; Nah 3:8-10). (For map and other details see EGYPT.)