The native American., 1839-01-12
N. Y. oBsIRvEn.
CHEEVER'S LETTERS FROM THERE'S NO. l
TAebes, Upper EgMt, 1893.


Antiquity of 7hebes.-.Nahum's description.-Er-
I tent and position Of the city Of old.
! THEBrs, with its hundred gates, was doubtless,
Oh some accounts one of the most stupendous, as
it was one Of the Oldest cities of the ancient world
Mr.. Wilkinson in his accurate and admirable
work on the topography of ancient Thebes, thinks
that the city was founded several generations be-
fore the era of Menes the first Egyptian King, and
this monarch is supposed TO have commenced his
reign 2,2Dl years before Christ, at the time hen
the kingdom Of Assyria was founded by Nimrod
This was two hundred and eighty-one years before
Abraham arrived in Egypt. an event which took
place ,D2O years before Christ The earliest mo-
march whose name exists on the monuments of
Thebes, is supposed to have been Osrtesen, the
Pharoah of Scripture, contemporary with Joseph.
Thus, in this remarkable region, surrounded by
Ihisroglyphcal wonders on every side, in temples
for the living and tombs for the dead, the mind of
the traveller is carried further back into the atmos
phere OF the past than it can be any where else in
the world, and he finds himself in connexion with
the intelligent remains, whose voice is that of
isencos so antique and works wonderful that
even the Imagination scarcely credit them.
'rhe most authentic description of ancient
Thebes, and by far the Oldest, is that poecal one
Of the prophet Nahum, iii $40, where in order
to give power to tthe burden of Nineveh" and
to impress deeply the belief of its coming desola-
ton, the prophet brings to remembrance the fate
Of the populous Egyptian city with all its strength
and riches, notwithstanding which it was over
thrown and made captive and desolate cart thou
better than populous No, that was situate among
the rivers, that had the waters round about it,
whose rampant was the sea- and whose walls was
from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her
strength, and it was infinite Put and Lubim were
| thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went
into captivity; her young children also were dash
ed III pieces at the top OF all the Streets and they
cast lots for her honorable men and all her great men
were bound in chains. Ithas been nignorantly obec-
ted against the suppostion that the city here referred
to is that of Thebes that the sea is spoken ofas its
rampant but it is a singular fact that the Arabs
to this day call the river Nile Ell Bahr, the sea- the
very term by which we find it here designated in
The Scriptures. This mode Of designation among
the natives may be a term of pride for the great
ness of their beloved stream OF 1t may have origi
mated in the aspect of its waters during high in
undation which would give to them the appear
ance OF sea rather than river. AT any rate, they
SO des gnate it, and the fact is interesting
In this passage Nahum seems to speak of the
wall Of Ihebes extending from the river, which
it probably did at each end of the city, and per-
haps also ran along the river on each side. On
each side the river, the city extended IN length
about five miles, and in breadth, on both sides to-
gelneT, ABOUT lDTcc. MT flklHSon CoHCluues,
partly from the fact that not the slightest trace of
the walls or of their foundations is now discovera-
bic, that the city had none and supposes that the
epithet Hecatompylos, so often quoted, by which
Homer painted and celebrated its magnifcence,
referred to the gates of the Propylaa OF the tenn
PIES Two hundred chariots and two hundred
horsemen are however said to have issued from
each of its hundred gates;
Not all proud Thcbes, unrivalled walls contain
The worlds great empress on the Egyptian plain
That spreads her conauests o'er thousand states,
| And pours her heroes ttlr ugh hundred gates,
Two hundred horsemen and two hundred cars
| From each wide portal issuing to the wars :
A description, which, if taken for any thing more
than fiction, could not be referred merely to the
temples; and the passage in Nahum would Ger
tainly seem TO indicate, though not necessarily,
the existence both of walls and for'ifcatlons.-
The river where The city lay, is broad, and flows
around two small islands, the course of it being