DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0079
Chap. I.] WEALTH OF THEBES. 43
waters of the inundation, and buried by the alluvial
deposit in those parts which stood on the cultivated
land, the rocky and uninundated acclivity of the
hager would at least have retained some traces of
its former existence, even were it razed to the
ground.
It is not alone from the authority of ancient
writers that the splendor and power of this city,
which could furnish twenty thousand armed chariots
from its vicinity,* are to be estimated; but the extent
of the Egyptian conquests adding continually to
the riches f of the metropolis, the magnificence
of the edifices which adorned it, the luxe of the
individuals £ who inhabited it, the spoil taken
thence by the Persians, and the gold and silver §
collected after the burning || of the city, amply tes-
tify the immense wealth of Egyptian Thebes.
. * Diodorus seems to say, that this force was not all raised
in the vicinity of Thebes. I. s.45. But he commits a great error in
the number when he computes the chariots at 20,000, and reckons
only 100 stables and 200 horses in each; which, allowing two to
each car, will only supply half the number; and these stables he
places between Thebes and Memphis.
t " Legebantur indicta gentibus tributa,haud minus magnifica
quam nunc vi Parthorum, aut potentia Romana jubentur."—
Tacit. An. ii. 60. Vis was likewise more applicable to the
Egyptians than potentia.
t Homer, the sculptures of the tombs, and the remains of their
furniture, fully confirm this.
§ Diodorus reckons upwards of 300 talents of gold, about
26,020 pounds troy weight; and 2300 of silver, or 199,518
pounds; the former worth 1,248,960/. sterling, the latter 598,554/.
Diod. i. 46.
| The houses at Karuak have been burnt, and bronzes, bearing
waters of the inundation, and buried by the alluvial
deposit in those parts which stood on the cultivated
land, the rocky and uninundated acclivity of the
hager would at least have retained some traces of
its former existence, even were it razed to the
ground.
It is not alone from the authority of ancient
writers that the splendor and power of this city,
which could furnish twenty thousand armed chariots
from its vicinity,* are to be estimated; but the extent
of the Egyptian conquests adding continually to
the riches f of the metropolis, the magnificence
of the edifices which adorned it, the luxe of the
individuals £ who inhabited it, the spoil taken
thence by the Persians, and the gold and silver §
collected after the burning || of the city, amply tes-
tify the immense wealth of Egyptian Thebes.
. * Diodorus seems to say, that this force was not all raised
in the vicinity of Thebes. I. s.45. But he commits a great error in
the number when he computes the chariots at 20,000, and reckons
only 100 stables and 200 horses in each; which, allowing two to
each car, will only supply half the number; and these stables he
places between Thebes and Memphis.
t " Legebantur indicta gentibus tributa,haud minus magnifica
quam nunc vi Parthorum, aut potentia Romana jubentur."—
Tacit. An. ii. 60. Vis was likewise more applicable to the
Egyptians than potentia.
t Homer, the sculptures of the tombs, and the remains of their
furniture, fully confirm this.
§ Diodorus reckons upwards of 300 talents of gold, about
26,020 pounds troy weight; and 2300 of silver, or 199,518
pounds; the former worth 1,248,960/. sterling, the latter 598,554/.
Diod. i. 46.
| The houses at Karuak have been burnt, and bronzes, bearing