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58-570: The Egyptian term " Aamu ", translated as "Asiatic", was used to refer to the people originating from the Levant. In the Twelfth Dynasty (1991–1802 BCE) text Story of Sinuhe , " Aamu " is applied about the people of Retjenu. The term "Western Asiatic" has been used to refer to the people of Retjenu but can be used to generally refer to the lands now located in modern Turkey , Iran , Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Palestine , Israel ,

116-583: A "Chieftain of Retjenu" {wr n rṯnw} implying a Canaanite background. Within the Autobiography of Ahmose son of Abana, Retjenu is referenced in the section detailing the Syrian campaign of King Thutmose I : "After this (his majesty) proceeded to Retjenu to vent his wrath through the lands". The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III within the Karnak Temple references Retjenu in the poem section of

174-518: A 2005 study on mummified remains found that "some Theban nobles had a histology which indicated notably dark skin ". 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,

232-637: A celebration of the Opet Festival . In spite of his welcoming visit, Thebes became a center for dissent. Towards the end of the third century BC, Hugronaphor (Horwennefer), possibly of Nubian origin, led a revolt against the Ptolemies in Upper Egypt. His successor, Ankhmakis , held large parts of Upper Egypt until 185 BC. This revolt was supported by the Theban priesthood. After the suppression of

290-460: A group of West Asiatic foreigners, possibly Canaanites , labelled as Aamu ( ꜥꜣmw ), including the leading man with a Nubian ibex labelled "Abisha the Hyksos " ( 𓋾𓈎𓈉 ḥḳꜣ-ḫꜣsw , Heqa-khasut for "Hyksos"). The Aamu from this relief are further labeled as being from the area of Shu , which may be identified, with some uncertainty, with the area of Moab in southern Palestine around

348-432: Is a main setting and referenced in name multiple times as a defined geographical region and applied to the identity of the people residing in the area. Retjenu referenced as a defined geographical area: "When Amunenshi carried me off. He was the ruler of upper Retjenu", "This decree of the king is brought to you to inform you that your roving though countries, going from Qedem to Retjenu" and "Without calling Retjenu to mind-it

406-576: Is also located near Thebes; this valley connected Thebes to an oasis on the Western Desert. It is notable for the first Proto-Sinatic alphabet inscription, which appeared shortly after Thebes became the capital of Egypt. Nearby towns in the fourth Upper Egyptian nome were Per-Hathor , Madu , Djerty , Iuny , Sumenu and Imiotru . According to George Modelski , Thebes had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2000 BC (compared to 60,000 in Memphis ,

464-544: Is satisfied"), took the Herakleopolitans by force and reunited Egypt once again under one ruler, thereby starting the period now known as the Middle Kingdom . Mentuhotep II ruled for 51 years and built the first mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri , which most likely served as the inspiration for the later and larger temple built next to it by Hatshepsut in the 18th Dynasty. After these events, the 11th Dynasty

522-525: Is yours, even like your hounds!". The people residing in Retjenu are also referenced: "A hero of Retjenu came to provoke me in the tent; he was a peerless champion" and "When it was dawn, all Retjenu had come, having incited its tribes and gathered its neighboring countries". The Second Stela of Kamose , the last king of the Theban 17th Dynasty (c. 1580-1550 BCE), refers to Apepi , a Hyksos Pharaoh , as

580-465: The interpretatio graeca , Amun was rendered as Zeus Ammon . The name was therefore translated into Greek as Diospolis, "City of Zeus". To distinguish it from the numerous other cities by this name, it was known as the "Great Diospolis" ( Διόσπολις Μεγάλη , Diospolis Megálē ; Latin : Diospolis Magna ). The Greek names came into wider use after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great , when

638-856: The 12th Dynasty king Senusret may have been usurped and re-used, since the statue bears a cartouche of Nyuserre on its belt. Since seven rulers of the 4th to 6th 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. By 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs (the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties) consolidated control over Lower Egypt and northern parts of Upper Egypt from their capital in Herakleopolis Magna . A rival line (the Eleventh Dynasty ), based at Thebes, ruled

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696-789: The 16th Dynasty ) stood firmly over their immediate region as the Hyksos advanced from the Delta southwards to Middle Egypt . The Thebans resisted the Hyksos' further advance by making an agreement for a peaceful concurrent rule between them. The Hyksos were able to sail upstream past Thebes to trade with the Nubians and the Thebans brought their herds to the Delta without adversaries. The status quo continued until Hyksos ruler Apophis ( 15th Dynasty ) insulted Seqenenre Tao ( 17th Dynasty ) of Thebes. Soon

754-553: The 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ). It also became the center for a newly established professional civil service , where there was a greater demand for scribes and the literate as the royal archives began to fill with accounts and reports. At the city the favored few of Nubia were reeducated with Egyptian culture, to serve as administrators of the colony. 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

812-609: The Delta . Thebes maintained its revenues and prestige through the reigns of Seti I (1290–1279 BC) and Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC), who still resided for part of every year in Thebes. Ramesses II carried out extensive building projects in the city, such as statues and obelisks, the third enclosure wall of Karnak temple, additions to the Luxor temple , and the Ramesseum , his grand mortuary temple . The constructions were bankrolled by

870-574: The Eastern Desert , with its valuable mineral resources and trade routes. It was a religious center and the most venerated city during many periods of ancient Egyptian history. The site of Thebes includes areas on both the eastern bank of the Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand and where the city was situated; and the western bank, where a necropolis of large private and royal cemeteries and funerary complexes can be found. In 1979,

928-583: The Jordan River , or generally the southern Levant , just east of the Jordan and the Red Sea . This Ancient Near East –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about subjects relating to Ancient Egypt is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Thebes, Egypt Thebes ( Arabic : طيبة , Ancient Greek : Θῆβαι , Thēbai ), known to

986-587: The Late Period . By around 750 BC, the Kushites (Nubians) were growing their influence over Thebes and Upper Egypt. In 721 BC, King Shabaka of the Kushites defeated the combined forces of Osorkon IV ( 22nd Dynasty ), Peftjauawybast ( 23rd Dynasty ) Bakenranef ( 24th Dynasty ) and reunified Egypt yet again. His reign saw a significant amount of building work undertaken throughout Egypt, especially at

1044-581: The Red Sea , and the Caucasus . The earliest documented occurrence of the term Retjenu occurs in the military campaign record of King Senusret III on the Sebek-khu Stele , detailing an Egyptian victory over the people of Retjenu: "His Majesty proceeded northward to overthrow the Asiatics. His Majesty reached a foreign country of which the name was Sekmem (...) Then Sekmem fell, together with

1102-638: The Roman occupation (30 BC–641 AD), the remaining communities clustered around the pylon of the Luxor temple. Thebes became part of the Roman province of Thebais , which later split into Thebais Superior , centered at the city, and Thebais Inferior , centered at Ptolemais Hermiou . A Roman legion was headquartered in Luxor temple at the time of Roman campaigns in Nubia . Building did not come to an abrupt stop, but

1160-568: The Tanakh as the "Nōʼ ʼĀmôn" ( נא אמון ) in the Book of Nahum and also as "No" ( נא ) mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and Jeremiah . "Thebes" is sometimes claimed to be the Latinised form of Ancient Greek : Θῆβαι , the hellenized form of Demotic Egyptian tꜣ jpt ("the temple"), referring to jpt-swt . Today, the temple is known as Karnak , and is located on the northeast bank of

1218-532: The ancient Egyptians as Waset , was an ancient Egyptian city located along the Nile about 800 kilometers (500 mi) south of the Mediterranean . Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor . Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome (Sceptre nome) and was the capital of Egypt for long periods during the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom eras. It was close to Nubia and

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1276-547: The Canaanite center of power at Avaris, starting the 15th Dynasty there. The Hyksos kings gained the upper hand over Lower Egypt early into the Second Intermediate Period (1657–1549 BC). When the Hyksos took Memphis during or shortly after Merneferre Ay 's reign ( c.  1700 BC ), the rulers of the 13th Dynasty fled south to Thebes, which was restored as capital. Theban princes (now known as

1334-549: The Theban Hills in the west that culminates at the sacred 420-meter (1,380-foot) al-Qurn . In the east lies the mountainous Eastern Desert with its wadis draining into the valley. Significant among these wadis is Wadi Hammamat near Thebes. It was used as an overland trade route going to the Red Sea coast. Wadi Hammamat was the primary trade route linking Egypt to the Red Sea since Pre-Dynastic times. Uruk civilization

1392-407: The Theban economy flourish by renewing trade networks, primarily the Red Sea trade between Thebes' Red Sea port of Al-Qusayr , Elat and the land of Punt . Her successor Thutmose III brought to Thebes a great deal of his war booty that originated from as far away as Mittani . The 18th Dynasty reached its peak during his great-grandson Amenhotep III 's reign (1388–1350 BC). Aside from embellishing

1450-487: The adoption of his own daughter, Nitocris I , as heiress to God's Wife of Amun there. In 525 BC, Persian Cambyses II invaded Egypt and became pharaoh, subordinating the kingdom as a satrapy to the greater Achaemenid Empire . 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 Alexander the Great . He visited Thebes during

1508-514: The armies of Thebes marched on the Hyksos-ruled lands. Tao died in battle and his son Kamose took charge of the campaign. After Kamose's death, his brother Ahmose I continued until he captured Avaris , the Hyksos capital. Ahmose I drove the Hyksos out of Egypt and the Levant and reclaimed the lands formerly ruled by them. Ahmose I founded a new age for a unified Egypt with Thebes as its capital. The city remained as capital during most of

1566-623: The city continued to decline. In the first century AD, Strabo described Thebes as having been relegated to a mere village. Eastern Thebes: Western Thebes: 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

1624-874: The city of Thebes, which he made the capital of his kingdom. In Karnak he erected a pink granite statue of himself wearing the Pschent (the double crown of Egypt). Taharqa accomplished many notable projects at Thebes (i.e. the Kiosk in Karnak) and Nubia before the Assyrians started to wage war against Egypt. 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

1682-411: 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, but renewed building projects at Thebes produced even more glorious temples and shrines. With the 19th Dynasty the seat of government moved to

1740-682: The city. Since Homer refers to the metropolis by this name, and since Demotic script did not appear until a later date, the etymology is doubtful. As early as Homer 's Iliad , the Greeks distinguished the Egyptian Thebes as "Thebes of the Hundred Gates" ( Θῆβαι ἑκατόμπυλοι , Thēbai hekatómpyloi ) or "Hundred-Gated Thebes", as opposed to the " Thebes of the Seven Gates " ( Θῆβαι ἑπτάπυλοι , Thēbai heptápyloi ) in Boeotia , Greece. In

1798-695: The country came to be ruled by the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty . Thebes was located along the banks of the Nile River in the middle part of Upper Egypt about 800 km south of the Delta . It was built largely on the alluvial plains of the Nile Valley, which follows a great bend of the Nile. As a natural consequence, the city was laid in a northeast–southwest axis parallel to the contemporary river channel. Thebes had an area of 93 km (36 sq mi), which included parts of

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1856-473: The country in 663 BC and retreated southwards. 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,

1914-490: The depiction within the tomb of Rekhmire the rows of foreigners are depicted carrying their tribute in front or behind them. The tomb of Amenemhab depicts the chiefs of foreign lands including Retjenu leading rows of foreigners to deliver tribute to Thutmose III . The foreigners are depicted carrying their tribute on their backs while some kneel and prostrate before Thutmose III . The Stela of Amenhotep III within his mortuary temple in western Thebes references Retjenu in

1972-446: 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. Thebes never regained its former political significance, but it remained an important religious centre. Assyrians installed Psamtik I (664–610 BC), who ascended to Thebes in 656 BC and brought about

2030-490: The eastern Nile Delta. They eventually founded the 14th Dynasty at Avaris in c.  1805 BC or c.  1710 BC . By doing so, the Asiatics established hegemony over the majority of the Delta region, subtracting these territories from the influence of the 13th Dynasty that had meanwhile succeeded the 12th. A second wave of Asiatics called Hyksos (from Heqa-khasut , "rulers of foreign lands" as Egyptians called their leaders) immigrated into Egypt and overran

2088-426: The executions of many conspirators, including Theban officials and women. Under the later Ramessids, Thebes began to decline as the government fell into grave economic difficulties. During the reign of Ramesses IX (1129–1111 BC), about 1114 BC, a series of investigations into the plundering of royal tombs in the necropolis of western Thebes uncovered proof of corruption in high places, following an accusation made by

2146-755: The hands of the High Priests of Amun , so that during the Third Intermediate Period , the High Priest of Amun exerted absolute power over the South, a counterbalance to the 21st and 22nd Dynasty kings who ruled from the Delta. Intermarriage and adoption strengthened the ties between them, daughters of the Tanite kings being installed as God's Wife of Amun at Thebes, where they wielded greater power. Theban political influence receded only in

2204-652: The hundred-gated Thebes." More than sixty annual festivals were celebrated in Thebes. The major festivals among these, according to the Edfu Geographical Text, were: the Beautiful Feast of Opet , the Khoiak (Festival), Festival of I Shemu , and Festival of II Shemu. Another popular festivity was the halloween-like Beautiful Festival of the Valley . Thebes was inhabited from around 3200 BC. It

2262-645: The large granaries (built around the Ramesseum) that concentrated the taxes collected from Upper Egypt; and by the gold from expeditions to Nubia and the Eastern Desert. During Ramesses' long 66-year reign, Egypt and Thebes reached an overwhelming state of prosperity that equaled or even surpassed the earlier peak under Amenhotep III. The city continued to be well kept in the early 20th Dynasty . The Great Harris Papyrus states that Ramesses III (reigned 1187–56) donated 86,486 slaves and vast estates to

2320-482: 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. 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). Shomarka Keita reported that

2378-532: The mayor of the east bank against his colleague on the west. The plundered royal mummies were moved from place to place and at last deposited by the priests of Amun in a tomb-shaft in Deir el-Bahri and in the tomb of Amenhotep II . (The finding of these two hiding places in 1881 and 1898, respectively, was one of the great events of modern archaeological discovery.) Such maladministration in Thebes led to unrest. Control of local affairs tended to come more and more into

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2436-489: The reign of Senusret I . Thebes was already, in the Middle Kingdom, a town of considerable size. Excavations around the Karnak temple show that the Middle Kingdom town had a layout with a grid pattern . The city was at least one kilometre long and 50 hectares in area. Remains of two palatial buildings were also detected. Starting in the later part of the 12th Dynasty, a group of Canaanite people began settling in

2494-451: The remaining part of Upper Egypt. The Theban rulers were apparently descendants of the prince of Thebes, Intef the Elder . His probable grandson Intef I was the first of the family to claim in life a partial pharaonic titulary , though his power did not extend much further than the general Theban region. Finally by c.  2050 BC , Intef III 's son Mentuhotep II (meaning "Montu

2552-471: The revolt in 185 BC, Ptolemy V , in need of the support of the priesthood, pardoned them. 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. During

2610-641: The ruins of ancient Thebes were classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site . The Egyptian name for Thebes was wꜣs.t , "City of the wꜣs ", the sceptre of the pharaohs , a long staff with an animal's head and a forked base. From the end of the New Kingdom , Thebes was known in Egyptian as njw.t-jmn , the "City of Amun ", the chief of the Theban Triad of deities whose other members were Mut and Khonsu . This name of Thebes appears in

2668-631: The section The Bark of Amun: "in making for [Amen-Re] a great bark upon the river, 'Amen-Re-firm-of-brow,' of new pine wood, cut by my majesty in the countries of god's land, and dragged from the mountains of Retjenu by the chiefs of all foreign lands". A relief on a wall adjacent to the Tenth Pylon in the temple of Karnak depicts a scene of Horemheb presenting foreigners to deities. Depicted behind Horemheb are rows of bound and prostrating foreigners, among them are chiefs of Retjenu and Aegean islanders who express their fear of Horemheb . Within

2726-572: The stela: "I came to let you tread on those of Asia, to smite the Asians' heads in Retjenu". The tomb of Rekhmire includes the "chiefs of Retjenu" in scenes depicting lines of foreigners prostrating, bowing, and carrying tribute on their backs, shoulders, or in front of them to be delivered to Thutmose III . The tomb of Menkheperreseneb II depicts the chiefs of Retjenu among the chiefs of Keftiu , Hatti , and Qadesh leading rows of foreigners to deliver goods as tribute to Thutmose III . Similar to

2784-607: 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. 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

2842-536: The temples of Amun . 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. 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 Hatshepsut (reigned 1479–1458 BC) helped

2900-447: The temples of Amun, Amenhotep increased construction in Thebes to unprecedented levels. On the west bank, he built the enormous mortuary temple and the equally massive Malkata palace-city, which fronted a 364-hectare artificial lake. In the city proper he built the Luxor temple and the Avenue of the Sphinxes leading to Karnak. For a brief period in the reign of Amenhotep III's son Akhenaten (1351–1334 BC), Thebes fell on hard times;

2958-451: The temples of Amun. Ramesses III received tributes from all subject peoples including the Sea Peoples and Meshwesh Libyans. The whole of Egypt was experiencing financial problems, however, exemplified in the events at Thebes' village of Deir el-Medina . In the 25th year of his reign, workers in Deir el-Medina began striking for pay and there arose a general unrest of all social classes. Subsequently, an unsuccessful Harem conspiracy led to

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3016-414: The time of the wars against the Hyksos also refer to the latter as ꜥꜣmw . Although they have left no inscriptions in their own language, some of their personal names have turned up in Egyptian records, which are a syntactical and lexical match for West Semitic dialects. An ancient Egyptian painting in the tomb of 12th Dynasty official Khnumhotep II , at Beni Hasan ( c.  1900 BCE ), shows

3074-412: The walls of hypostyle hall at Karnak the battle reliefs of Seti I include a reference to captives brought to Egypt from Retjenu: "The great chiefs of Retjenu the vile, whom His Majesty brought away by his [victo]ries over the foreign country of Hatti in order to fill the magazine [of] his noble [father], Amun-Re". Aamu Aamu ( Ancient Egyptian : 𓂝𓄿𓅓𓅱 , romanized :  ꜥꜣmw )

3132-413: The wretched Retjenu". An amethyst scarab seal featuring an inscription of a personal name, title, and the term Retjenu was discovered in the site of Tell el-Dab'a dating to the Twelfth Dynasty . The scarab seal would have been received either through trade or as a diplomatic gift from the court of Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty . In the early Twelfth Dynasty text Tale of Sinuhe (c. 1875 BC) Retjenu

3190-402: Was transmitted to Egypt along this corridor. It is the likely that Thinis , the capital of the First Dynasty, was located in the same region as Thebes for this reason. Both cities were at a crossroad region in Upper Egypt between the Nile in the north to south direction and Saharan caravan routes connecting to Red Sea maritime routes via Wadi Hammamat in the East West direction. The Wadi el-Hol

3248-434: Was an name used to designate West Asians in ancient Egypt. It is often translated as "Western Asiatic", but it might refer specifically to Canaanites or Amorites . The Egyptologist and linguist Thomas Schneider states that ꜥꜣm was attested as early as the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and is likely a loanword from early Semitic term drmj , "inhabitant of the south (of Palestine )". Contemporary Egyptian sources from

3306-418: Was short-lived, as less than twenty years had elapsed between the death of Mentuhotep II and that of Mentuhotep IV , in mysterious circumstances. During the 12th Dynasty , Amenemhat I moved the seat of power North to Itjtawy . Thebes continued to thrive as a religious center as the local god Amun was becoming increasingly prominent throughout Egypt. The oldest remains of a temple dedicated to Amun date to

3364-450: Was the eponymous capital of Waset, the fourth Upper Egyptian nome . At this time it was still a small trading post, while Memphis served as the royal residence of the Old Kingdom pharaohs. Although no buildings survive in Thebes older than portions of the Karnak temple complex that may date from the Middle Kingdom , the lower part of a statue of Pharaoh Nyuserre of the 5th Dynasty has been found in Karnak. Another statue dedicated by

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