Thebes, the city of the god Amon, was the capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, Thebes is a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height.
A rich city of Egypt, which is mentioned by Homer, who calls it "ecatompylos" (= city of an hundred gates) (Il. 9.381, Od. 4.126).
Alcandre was the wife of Polybus (Od. 4.126).
Cnuphis (Knouphis), an Egyptian divinity, so called by Strabo (xvii.); while other writers, such as Plutarch, probably more in conformity with the genuine Egyptian name, call him Cneph (Kneph). Plutarch (de Is. et Os. 21) states, that all the Egyptians contributed to the maintenance of the sacred animals, with the exception of the inhabitants of Thebais, who did not worship any mortal divinity, but an unborn and an immortal one, whom they called Cneph. This statement would lead us to the belief, that the inhabitants of Thebais worshipped some spiritual divinity to the exclusion of all others, and that consequently their religion was of a purer and more refined nature than that of the other Egyptians; but we know front other sources, that in Thebais, as well as in other places, animals were worshipped, such as the crocodile (Herod. ii. 69), the eagle (Diod. i. 87; Strab. xvii. p. 559), the ram, and a kind of harmless snake (Herod. ii. 74). The god Cneph himself was worshipped in the form of a serpent, as we learn from Strabo and Eusebius (Praep. Ev. i. 10), the latter of whom states, that Cneph was called by the Phoenicians Agathodaemon, a name which occurs also in coins and inscriptions of the time of the Roman empire, in which the god himself is represented in the form of a serpent. It was probably the idea of which the serpent is the symbol, that gave rise to the opinion of Plutarch and others, that Cneph was a spiritual divinity; and when this notion had once become established, the symbol of the god became a matter of less importance, and was changed. Thus Eusebius (Praep. Ev. iii. 11) informs us, that the Egyptians called the creator and ruler of the world (demiourgos) Cneph, and that he was represented in the form of a man, with dark complexion, a girdle, and a sceptre in his hand. Cneph produced an egg, that is, the world, from his mouth, and out of it arose the god Phtha, whom the Greeks called Hephaestus. Most modern writers entertain about Cneph the same or nearly the same views as were propounded by the Greek philosophers, and accordingly regard him as the eternal spirit, and as the author of all that is in the world. Cnuphi is said to signify in the Coptic language the good spirit, like Agathodaemon. (Jablonsky, Panth. Aegypt. i. 4)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
In Egypt, its ancient wealth, in Upper Egypt , a custom of the temple there (modern Luxor), Herodotus' inquiries at Thebes, distance from Heliopolis, Thebes once called Egypt, rules of abstinence there, alleged connection between the temple at Thebes and Dodona, crocodiles held sacred there, sacred snakes, Hecataeus' investigations at Thebes, single instance of rain at Thebes, Cambyses there, distance from Thebes of the temple of Ammon, Thebaic province, Syene and Chemmis in it, inhabited by one of the warrior tribes, revolts against Ptolemy Philometor, who subdues and humbles it, much decayed in Pausanias's time, colossus at.
Known to Homer (Il. 9.38 1-83), it lies 714 km S of Cairo. It was known to the Egyptians as Waset, the city of the south, and more popularly as Diospolis Megale (Diod. 1.15.97), the great city of Zeus, identified with the Egyptian god Amun. It became the capital of Egypt in the 11th Dynasty (ca. 2052 B.C.), supplanting Memphis, the earlier capital. Its great period was during the 18th-20th Dynasties (ca. 1550-1100 B.C.) when it was the capital of the Egyptian Empire. Although Thebes had long ceased to be the political center of Egypt in the Ptolemaic period, it was still important. However the city revolted against Ptolemy V Epiphanes and was severely punished. The city is extensively described during that time by both Diodorus (1.15.97) and Strabo (17.1.46). Under Roman rule, building activities continued and the city attracted attention because of the colossi of Memnon as they were then known. During the Early Christian period, the W part of the city became a monastic settlement, and most of the temples were converted into churches. Modern Luxor contains but a small part of the remains of the ancient city, which extended to cover Karnak and a number of villages on the W bank of the Nile. The contribution both of the Ptolemies and of the Roman emperors to the religious continuity of the city is to be seen scattered all over the vast area. Alexander the Great has a naos within the enclosure of the Luxor Temple. The granite sanctuary at Karnak commemorates the coronation of Philip Arhidaeus by the Egyptian gods in the presence of Amun Ra. The Temple of Ptah--identified with the Greek Hephaistos, and Hathor, identified with Aphrodite--has gateways which were added during the Ptolemaic period. The fine granite gateway which lies in front of the temple of the war god Mont was built by Ptolemy Philadelphos. The small chapel to the W of the temple is also a work of the Ptolemies. The gateway of the Temple of Mut was erected by Ptolemy I Soter. Here the king is represented shaking the sistrum, the queen plays the harp, and a princess beats a tamborine before Mut and Sekhmet. In Thebes West, across the river, there still stand the two colossi representing Amenhotep III seated upon a throne of which the figure to the N was thought by the Greeks to be that of Memnon, one of the great heroes of the Trojan War, who was said to have led an army of the Ethiopians to the siege of that city. The rather small but beautiful temple at Deir el-Medina is entirely a work of the Ptolemies. Augustus appears in the Temple of Amun where a statue of him was found. The additional court and pylon which are to be seen in the Temple of Nectanebos at Medinet Habu, were dedicated by Domitian. Hadrian, who visited Thebes with his wife Sabina (A.D. 130), began the construction of the temple that stands to the S of Medinet Habu and dedicated it to Isis. Antoninus Pius completed it.
S. Shenouda, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 6 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Thebai, in the poets sometimes Thebe (Thebe; Dor. Theba), later
Diospolis Magna (Diospolis Megale, i. e. "Great City of Zeus"), in Egyptian
Tuabu, in Scripture No or No Ammon. The capital of Thebais, or Upper Egypt, and,
for a long time, of the whole country. It was reputed the oldest city of the world.
It stood in about the centre of the Thebaid, on both banks of the Nile, above
Coptos, and in the Nomos Coptites. It is said to have been founded under the first
dynasty by Menes; but this is unsupported by any evidence. Others ascribed its
foundation to Osiris, who named it after his mother, and others to Busiris. It
appears to have been at the height of its splendour, as the capital of Egypt,
and as a chief seat of worship of Ammon, about B.C. 1330 under the Nineteenth
Dynasty. The fame of its grandeur had reached the Greeks as early as the time
of Homer, who describes it, with poetical exaggeration, as having a hundred gates,
from each of which it could send out 200 war chariots fully armed. Homer's epithet
of "HundredGated" (hekatompuloi) is repeatedly applied to the city by
later writers. Its real extent was calculated by the Greek writers at 140 stadia
(fourteen geographical miles) in circuit; and in Strabo's time, when the long
transference of the seat of power to Lower Egypt had caused it to decline greatly,
it still had a circuit of eighty stadia. That these computations are not exaggerated
is proved by the existing ruins, which extend from side to side of the valley
of the Nile, here about six miles wide; while the rocks which bound the valley
are perforated with tombs. These ruins, which are perhaps the most magnificent
in the world, enclose within their site the four modern villages of Karnak, Luxor
(El Uksur), Medinet Habou, and Kurna--the two former on the eastern and the two
latter on the western side of the river. They consist of temples, colossi, sphinxes,
and obelisks, and, on the western side, of tombs, many of which are cut in the
rock and adorned with paintings, which are still as fresh as if just finished.
These ruins are remarkable alike for their great antiquity and for the purity
of their style. It is most probable that the great buildings were all erected
before the Persian invasion, when Thebes was taken by Cambyses, who secured treasure
to the amount of some $10,000,000, and burned the wooden habitations, after which
time it never regained the rank of a capital city; and thus its architectural
monuments escaped that Greek influence which is so marked in the edifices of Lower
Egypt. Among its chief buildings, the ancient writers mention the Memnonium, with
the two colossi in front of it, the temple of Ammon, in which one of the three
chief colleges of priests was established, and the tombs of the kings.
To describe the ruins in detail, and to discuss their identification,
would far exceed the possible limits of this article. Suffice it to mention among
the monuments on the western (Libyan) side the three temples of Seti I., Rameses
II., and Rameses III. Near the second is the fallen colossus of Rameses II., the
largest statue in Egypt. Beyond is the terraced temple of Queen Hatasu of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, near which a remarkable series of mummies and papyri were
found by Brugsch in 1881. At Medinet Habou is a great temple of Rameses III.,
with interesting sculptures describing his victories over the Philistines, and
also a calendar. Northwest of this are the cemeteries of the sacred apes and the
Valley of the Tombs of the Queens (seventeen sepulchres). On the eastern bank
at Luxor is the beautiful temple of Amenoph III., with an obelisk whose fellow
now stands in the Place de la Concorde at Paris. At Karnak is a splendid group
of temples built under the Twelfth Dynasty. The finest portion of this maze of
architectural magnificence is the Great Hall, 170 by 329 feet, with twelve imposing
columns 62 feet in height and 12 feet in diameter, and 122 minor columns, and
two obelisks, of which one is the tallest in Egypt, being 108 feet in height.
On the walls are fine sculptures depicting the battles of Seti I. and Rameses
II. against the Hittites, Arabs, Syrians, and Armenians. In one of the porticos
is recorded the expedition of Shishak I. against Jerusalem in B.C. 971. In classical
times Thebes was a great showplace, and was visited by both Greek and Roman tourists,
among the latter being the emperor Hadrian.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A Greek scholar, a native of the Egyptian Thebes, who flourished in the fifth century A.D., and wrote at Alexandria or Constantinople an etymological lexicon and an anthology of gnomes or maxims from the Greek poets.
d.c. 311, feastday: March 8
Feastday: September 11
d.c. 229-342, feastday: January 15
d. 368. Feastday: April 27 (May 16 in the Eastern Church).
Saint John The Short (Yoannis Pi Kolobos)
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