Thebes, Egypt

Thebes [Θηβαι Thēbai] is the Greek designation of ancient Egyptian niwt "(The) City" and niwt-rst "(The) Southern City". It is located about 700 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the Nile. It was the capital of Waset, the fourth Upper Egyptian nome. (The term "Waset" was also used for the name of the city as well.) In modern usage, the mortuary temples and tombs of the west bank are generally thought of as being part of Thebes as well. The city was the capital of Egypt during part of the Eleventh Dynasty (Middle Kingdom), and most of the Eighteenth Dynasty (New Kingdom), though the administration probably remained located at Memphis for much of this. With the Nineteenth Dynasty the seat of government moved to the Delta. Its archaeological remains offer a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height.

As the seat of the Theban triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, Thebes was known in the Egyptian language from the end of the New Kingdom as niwt-imn, "The City of Amun. This found its way into the Hebrew Bible as נא אמון nōˀ ˀāmôn ( Nahum 3:8). In Greek this name was rendered Διοσπολις Diospolis, "City of Zeus" (Zeus being the god whom the Greeks identified with Amun).

The name Thebes is often mistakenly thought to derive from the Greek as there is a city in Greece with this name as well (see the article Thebes, Greece). Thebes, however, is likely a graecising form of ancient Egyptian t3 ipt-swt (lit. "The Most-select of Places"), one of the names of the temple of Karnak, which is located in the city.

Luxor and Karnak are the names of towns situated at or near the sites of two important temples that stood on the outskirts of the city.

Contents

1 Important archaeological sites in Thebes 1.1 East Bank 1.2 West Bank 2 Ancient Egypt Clipart and Pictures 3 Sources 4 External link

Important archaeological sites in Thebes

East Bank

• Karnak Temple
• Luxor Temple

West Bank

• Valley of the Kings
• Valley of the Queens
• Medinet Habu (mortuary temple of Ramses III)
• The Ramesseum (mortuary temple of Ramses II)
• Deir al-Madinah (workers' village)
• Tombs of the Nobles
• Deir el-Bahri (temples of Montuhotep II, Hatshepsut, etc.)
• Malkata (palace of Amenhotep III)
• Colossi of Memnon (mortuary temple of Amenhotep III)

Ancient Egypt Clipart and Pictures

• Ancient Egypt Architecture (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Architecture)
• Ancient Egypt Art (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Art)
• Ancient Egypt Clipart (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Clipart)
• Ancient Egypt Clothing (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Clothing)
• Ancient Egypt Architecture (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Commerce)
• Ancient Egypt Daily Life (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Daily_Life)
• Ancient Egypt Games and Toys (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Games_and_Toys)
• Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphs (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Hieroglyphs)
• Ancient Egypt People (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Historical_People)
• Ancient Egypt Illustrations (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Illustrations)
• Ancient Egypt Mummies (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Mummies)
• Ancient Egypt Musical Instruments (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Musical_Instruments)
• Ancient Egypt Pyramids (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Pyramids)
• Ancient Egypt Religion (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Religion)
• Ancient Egypt Statues (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Statues)
• Ancient Egypt Temples (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Temples)
• Ancient Egypt Transportation (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Transportation)
• Ancient War and Armies (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/War_and_Armies)

Sources

• Gauthier, Henri. 1925–1931. Dictionnaire des noms g鯧raphiques contenus dans les textes hi鲯glyphiques. Vol. 3 of 7 vols. Cairo: Imprimerie de l’Institut fran硩s d’arch鯬ogie orientale du Caire. (Reprinted Osnabr?tto Zeller Verlag, 1975). 75, 76.

• Polz, Daniel C. 2001. “Thebes.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 3 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 384–388.

• Redford, Donald Bruce. 1992. “Thebes.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 6 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 442–443.

• Strudwick, Nigel C., and Helen Strudwick. 1999. Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor. London: British Museum Press.

External link

• Theban Mapping Project (http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/)