Thebes, Egypt
Waset طيبة Θῆβαι | |
Arabic: طيبة | |
Location | Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt |
---|---|
Region | Upper Egypt |
Coordinates | 25°43′14″N 32°36′37″E / 25.72056°N 32.61028°E |
Type | Settlement |
Arab States |
Thebes (
Toponymy
|
|
|
The
"Thebes" is sometimes claimed to be the
In the
Characteristics
Geography
Thebes was located along the banks of the
Nearby towns in the fourth Upper Egyptian
]Demographics
According to George Modelski, Thebes had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2000 BC (compared to 60,000 in Memphis, the largest city in the world at the time). By 1800 BC, the population of Memphis was down to about 30,000, making Thebes the largest city in Egypt at the time.[13] Historian Ian Morris has estimated that by 1500 BC, Thebes may have grown to be the largest city in the world, with a population of about 75,000, a position it held until about 900 BC, when it was surpassed by Nimrud (among others).[14]
A 2005 study on Theban nobles had found that the mummified remains had a histology which "indicated notably dark skin".[15]
Economy
The archaeological remains of Thebes offer a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height. The Greek poet Homer extolled the wealth of Thebes in the Iliad, Book 9 (c. 8th Century BC): "... in Egyptian Thebes the heaps of precious ingots gleam, the hundred-gated Thebes."[16][17]
Culture
More than sixty annual festivals were celebrated in Thebes. The major festivals among these, according to the Edfu Geographical Text, were: the
History
Old Kingdom
Thebes was inhabited from around 3200 BC. Dynasties appear on the Karnak king list, perhaps at the least there was a temple in the Theban area that dated to the Old Kingdom.
First Intermediate Period
By 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs (the
Middle Kingdom
Finally by c. 2050 BC,
During the
Starting in the later part of the 12th Dynasty, a group of
Second Intermediate Period
A second wave of
Theban princes (now known as the
New Kingdom and the height of Thebes
With Egypt stabilized again, religion and religious centers flourished and none more so than Thebes. For instance, Amenhotep III poured much of his vast wealth from foreign tribute into the temples of Amun.[27] The Theban god Amun became a principal state deity and every building project sought to outdo the last in proclaiming the glory of Amun and the pharaohs themselves.[28] Thutmose I (reigned 1506–1493 BC) began the first great expansion of the Karnak temple. After this, colossal enlargements of the temple became the norm throughout the New Kingdom.
Queen
For a brief period in the reign of Amenhotep III's son Akhenaten (1351–1334 BC), Thebes fell on hard times; the city was abandoned by the court, and the worship of Amun was proscribed. The capital was moved to the new city of Akhetaten (Amarna in modern Egypt), midway between Thebes and Memphis. After his death, his son Tutankhamun returned the capital to Memphis,[29] but renewed building projects at Thebes produced even more glorious temples and shrines.[27]
With the
The city continued to be well kept in the early
Under the later Ramessids, Thebes began to decline as the government fell into grave economic difficulties. During the reign of
Third Intermediate Period
Control of local affairs tended to come more and more into the hands of the
By around 750 BC, the
Late Period
In 667 BC, attacked by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal's army, Taharqa abandoned Lower Egypt and fled to Thebes. After his death three years later his nephew (or cousin) Tantamani seized Thebes, invaded Lower Egypt and laid siege to Memphis, but abandoned his attempts to conquer the country in 663 BC and retreated southwards.[34] The Assyrians pursued him and took Thebes, whose name was added to a long list of cities plundered and destroyed by the Assyrians, as Ashurbanipal wrote:
This city, the whole of it, I conquered it with the help of Ashur and Ishtar. Silver, gold, precious stones, all the wealth of the palace, rich cloth, precious linen, great horses, supervising men and women, two obelisks of splendid electrum, weighing 2,500 talents, the doors of temples I tore from their bases and carried them off to Assyria. With this weighty booty I left Thebes. Against Egypt and Kush I have lifted my spear and shown my power. With full hands I have returned to Nineveh, in good health.[35]
Thebes never regained its former political significance, but it remained an important religious centre. Assyrians installed
Graeco-Roman Period
The good relationship of the Thebans with the central power in the North ended when the native Egyptian pharaohs were finally replaced by Greeks, led by
Half a century later the Thebans rose again, elevating a certain Harsiesi to the throne in 132 BC. Harsiesi, having helped himself to the funds of the royal bank at Thebes, fled the following year. In 91 BC, another revolt broke out. In the following years, Thebes was subdued, and the city turned into rubble.[37]
During the
Major sites
Eastern Thebes:
- Ancient built-up area
- history.
- Luxor Temple (Ipet resyt). Unlike the other temples in Thebes, it is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the king in death. Instead, it is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned. It is a centerpiece of the "Opet Festival", where the sacred barque of the Theban Triad travels from Karnak to Luxor temple highlighting the godly significance of the pharaoh's re-coronation .
- Temple of Khonsu
- Precinct of Mut
- Precinct of Montu
- Avenue of Sphinxes
Western Thebes:
- Village of Deir el-Medina
- Malkata palace complex
- Ramesseum
- Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III
- Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
- Mortuary Temple of Seti I
- Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III
- Valley of the Kings
- Valley of the Queens
- Tombs of the Nobles
- The Rise of Aten
Cultural heritage
The two great temples—Luxor Temple and Karnak—and the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens are among the greatest achievements of ancient Egypt.
From 25 October 2018 to 27 January 2019, the Museum of Grenoble organized with the support of the Louvre and the British Museum, a three-month exhibition on the city of Thebes and the role of women in the city at that time.[39]
In popular culture
In popular culture, Thebes is a setting in the films The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). It is said to be the "Land of the Living". (In real history, there was no such name given to it.) The films feature scenes taking place in ancient Egypt in its prime, which affect the story in the modern setting some 3000 years later. In "The Egyptian" by the author Mika Waltari, there are ellaborate descriptions on how Thebes looked during the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
See also
- New Thebes
- List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities
- Thebes, Greece – the namesake
- List of historical capitals of Egypt
Notes
References
- ISBN 9773053474.
- ^ "Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ Erman/Grapow: Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, p. 211.
- ^ Erman/Grapow: Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, pp. 54,479.
- Nahum 3:8.
- ^ Ezekiel 30:14–16.
- ^ Jeremiah 46:25.
- ^ Huddlestun, John R. “Nahum, Nineveh, and the Nile: The Description of Thebes in Nahum 3:8–9.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 62, no. 2, 2003, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Iliad, IV.406 and IX.383.
- ^ Description of Greece, IX.16 §1.
- ^ Boundless. "Ancient Egyptian Trade". Boundless World History. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ a b Wilkinson, T. (2013). "The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt".
- ^ George Modelski, "Cities of the Ancient World: An Inventory (−3500 to −1200) Archived 2014-05-19 at the Wayback Machine"; see also list of largest cities throughout history.
- ^ Ian Morris, "Social Development Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine"; see also list of largest cities throughout history.
- ISBN 978-0367434632.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - )
- OCLC 1030993159.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - ^ "Opet | Egyptian festival | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ Karnak (Thebes), Egypt. Ancient-wisdom.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-07-29.
- ISBN 9780415235501, pp. 225-229
- ISBN 9780747599494., pp. 183-187
- ^ Wilkinson (2011), pp. 188 ff.
- ^ Daphna Ben Tor: Sequences and chronology of Second Intermediate Period royal-name scarabs, based on excavated series from Egypt and the Levant, in: The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties), Current Research, Future Prospects edited by Marcel Maree, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 192, 2010, p. 91
- ^ Margaret Bunson, "Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt"
- ^ Tyldesley, Joyce. Egypt's Golden Empire: The Age of the New Kingdom, pp. 18–19. Headline Book Publishing Ltd., 2001.
- ^ Draper, R. (2008). "The Black Pharaohs". National Geographic Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-24, from [1]
- ^ a b c d e Dorman, P. (2015). "Thebes|Ancient city, Egypt". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-02-07, from http://www.britannica.com/place/Thebes-ancient-Egypt
- ^ Mark, J. (2009). "Thebes". Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2016-02-06, from https://www.worldhistory.org/Thebes_(Egypt)/
- ISBN 0-19-815034-2, p. 290
- ^ Wilkinson, T. (2013). "The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt"
- ^ "Ramses II | Biography, Accomplishments, Tomb, Mummy, Death, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ RAMESSES III: THE LAST GREAT PHARAOH. http://www.greatdreams.com/. Retrieved on 2016-02-06.
- ^ Egypt: Thebes, A Feature Tour Egypt Story. http://www.touregypt.net/. Retrieved on 2016-02-06.
- ISBN 1445612666and books.google.com/books?id=7VeoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PP153
- ISBN 9781317649151
- ISBN 9781526140166.
- ^ The fall of Thebes to the Assyrians and its decline thereafter. http://www.reshafim.org.il/. Retrieved on 2016-02-06.
- ^ Dorman, P. (2015). "Luxor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-02-27, from http://www.britannica.com/place/Luxor
- ^ "museedegrenoble.fr, Servir les dieux d'Égypte (Serving the Gods of Egypt, Adoratrices, Songstresses, and Priests of Amun at Thebes)".
External links
- More information on ancient Thebes, a World Cultural Heritage site
- Theban Mapping Project
- Ramesseum/Ancient Thebes Digital Media Archive (photos, laser scans, panoramas), data from an Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities/CyArk research partnership
- ICOMOS Heritage at Risk 2001/2002