Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

THEBES.

shining beneath a sky of far deeper blue than northern
Egypt knows. Thus as at Memphis the Pyramids grow
upon us, at Thebes it is the beauty of the scene ; and
we do not wonder that the old Egyptians, in the days
of imperial power, preferred their own city to any other,
better fitted, indeed, for the control of the country, but
far less for repose, and that they loved to dwell in
this beautiful circle, where the mountains seem to shut
one in from the world around as in a quiet oasis.

Thebes, like the other cities of Egypt, had a civil and
a religious name. The civil name was Apiu, ' the city of
thrones,' which, with the article ' t' or ' ta,' became Ta-
Apiu, and was identified by the Greeks with the name of
their own famous city, by us corruptly called Thebes.
The sacred name was Nu-Amen, ' the city of Amen,' the
god of Thebes ; or simply Nu, ' the city,' and Nu-a, ' the
great city.'1 In these names we recognise the No-Amon
and No of Scripture.

The religion of Thebes was centred round the worship
of Amen, 'the hidden,' in the form Amen-ra, which con-
nected this local divinity with Ra, the sun, reverenced
throughout Egypt. Thus when Thebes became the

1 See Dumichen in Oncken's AUgemtine Geschicht,; i. 77, 68.