Meaning of TEBES

Called No and No-amon in the Scriptures (Jer. 46:25; Nah. 3:8, RV and V.M.; in the 1960 and 1977 revisions of the King James Version it is rendered by its later name of Thebes).

No and No-amon is also the name frequently found on monuments. Herodotus says that he reached it nine days after leaving On, going up the Nile (Herodotus 2:9).

Ahmose I expelled the Hyksos from Egypt, subsequently reorganizing and developing the empire. He then made Thebes his capital, enlarging and beautifying it. Homer speaks of its hundred gates (Iliad 9:381).

Amun was the tutelary deity of this city; the high priest of Amun was second after the king.
Thebes became the center of Egyptian civilization until two invasions hit the city.

First Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, took control of Egypt in 671 BC. Then Assurbanipal, his son and successor, set out again in the year 667, and the Assyrians reached Thebes.

During another expedition in 663 BC, Assurbanipal sacked the city (Nah. 3:8). Despite this disaster, the city long retained its importance (Herodotus 2:3; 3:10; Jer. 46:25; Ez. 30:14-16).

Cornelius Gallus destroyed Thebes because it had joined Upper Egypt, between 30 and 29 BC, to rebel against Roman exactions.

Splendid vestiges remain in Luxor and Karnak, on the right bank of the Nile: temples, obelisks, sphinx, etc. There are also monuments at Kurna and at Medinet-Habu, on the right bank.

In a gorge to the west of the ancient city, the tombs of its kings have been found, carved in the limestone rock.

The ruins of Thebes are undeniably among the most notable in the Nile Valley. The temple of Karnak is a marvel, and its architecture represents a prodigy of mechanical ability.

Its large hypostyle hall has 134 columns, the largest of which are 23 m. high and 3.65 m. diameter. The room itself measures 100 m. in length and 54 in width. The inscriptions are so numerous that the saying goes that "every stone is a book, and every column a library."