Origin of the name of Thebes | Ancient Egypt History -The Rise of Thebes to Power

Origin of the name of Thebes

In this position there had existed, probably from the very beginnings of Egypt, a provincial city of some repute, called by its inhabitants ApÃ© or Apiu, and, with the feminine article prefixed, TapÃ©, or Tapiu, which some interpret "The city of thrones".

To the Greeks the name "TapÃ©" seemed to resemble their own well-known "Thebai", whence they transferred the familiar appellation from the BÃ¦otian to the Mid-Egyptian town, which has thus come to be known to Englishmen and Anglo-Americans as "Thebes." Thebes had been from the first the capital of a "nome".

It lay so far from the court that it acquired a character of its ownâ€”a special cast of religion, manners, speech, nomenclature, mode of writing, and the likeâ€”which helped to detach it from Lower or Northern Egypt more even than its isolation. Still, it was not until the northern kingdom sank into decay from internal weakness and exhaustion, and disintegration supervened in the Delta and elsewhere, that Thebes resolved to assert herself and claim independent sovereignty. Apparently, she achieved her purpose without having recourse to arms. The kingdoms of the north were content to let her go. They recognized their own weakness, and allowed the nascent power to develop itself unchecked and unhindered.

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