Thebes

thebz, the name given by the Greeks to an ancient city of Egypt. It was situated on both shores of the Nile, near the southern end of Egypt proper. Karnak and Luxor are suburbs on the eastern shore. The valley is narrow and is hemmed in by lofty cliffs. Thebes was for centuries the residence of the pharaohs. Though now in ruins, the home of wretched villagers, 2000 B. C. it was the capital of the world, capable of sending out 20,000 war chariots. The city was so wealthy that Cambyses, the great Persian conqueror, secured treasure to the value of $10,000,000. Even yet "Thebes, in spite of the ravages of time and of the barbarians, still presents the grandest, the most prodigious assemblage of buildings ever erected by the hand of man." Homer called the city the Hundred-Gated, having reference to the huge stone gateways to the temples, for the city required no walls. Thebes was a city of splendor and power before Rome was even a name.

The largest of the ruins is a temple of Ammon, known as the temple of Karnak. A row of stone sphinxes--silent, inscrutable--leads to the main entrance. The gateway or pylon is 360 feet--a city block--in width, and 142 feet high. There are courts within courts and acres of stone roof supported by forests of stone columns. The roof of one hall rests on 134 columns, from forty to seventy feet high and from nine to twelve feet in diameter. The effect is said to fill the spectator with awe.

Other temples in the vicinity are hardly less notable. The entrances and walls are decorated with sculpture in low relief, portraying the warlike achievements of the pharaohs. Chariots, battle scenes, sieges, secretaries counting the heads of the slam, and triumphal processions are among the scenes. The work is said to be far superior to that found in the ruins of Assyria and Babylonia. A remarkable statue is that of Rameses II. It is forty feet high and represents the king sitting on his throne. It is cut from a single block of red granite, weighing not less than 887 tons. It came evidently from the quarry of Syene, many miles distant. How it was transported, no one can imagine. Another remarkable work of sculpture is a pair of statues of Memnon, forty-seven feet high. Each is made out of a single stone. One is the celebrated vocal Memnon. In the cliffs are the tombs of the kings. The entrances are adorned with gateways, colossal figures, sculpture, and hieroglyphics. The chambers within are extensive and artistic, and are adorned with inscriptions, paintings, and sculpture. Some of the finest tombs of alabaster have been removed to the British Museum. Other antiquities have found their way to museums in Paris, Berlin, and other capitals of Europe. It is to be regretted that the Arabs have done much damage to the figures as hostile to true religion, and that Christian relic hunters have encouraged their guides to chip and break off mementos.

Of late the Egyptian government, possibly under British influence, has become aware of the importance of the antiquities of the country. Guards accompany visitors to see that no effacing is permitted. Learned men, Egyptologists, of different universities, have been provided with laborers to excavate. An effort has been made to restore the old temples to their original condition. Rooms have been fitted to preserve specimens of art. Quite recently laborers in the employ of the Egyptian Service of Antiquities cleaned the Nile mud out of a pit in one of the chambers of the temple of Karnak. They found it a veritable treasure house of articles belonging to the period of the pharaohs and of the Greek Ptolemies of later date. There were no less than 8,000 statues, monuments, busts, coins, decorations, and tableware. These articles are of various materials--gilded bronze, marble, granite, basalt, beryl, and wood, now petrified. They have been cleaned with care and set in the niches of some of the better preserved rooms of the temple. The inscriptions are hailed with delight, and are now being translated. It is hoped they may clear up various obscure points of Egyptian history. Under the influence of European travel and winter tourists, a new town with modern hotels has sprung up in the quarter known as Luxor.

See Memnon; Architecture; Temple; Egypt