iaaaa/"AA^/A Eawlinson identifies Ni'a with No- a m n Amon. The whole paper (p. 137
Fisnre and Hiero- sqO is of great importance, as il- glyph of Anion, lustrating the reference in Nahum from the Egyptian ^q the capture of Thebes, by show- Monuments, .^^g ^j^.^^ 'j,g^.p^ ^^.^^ conquered by
both Esarhaddon and Asshur-bani-pal, and that the lat- ter twice took Thebes. If these wars were after the prophet's time, the narrative of them makes it more probable than it before seemed that there was a still earlier conquest of Egypt by the Assyrians. The con- jectures that Thebes was called jiein-atnoun, "the abode of Amen," or still nearer the Hebrew, naamoun, "the [city] of Amen," like naesi, "the [city] of Isis," or as Gesenius prefers, ma-amoun. " the place of Amen" {Thesaurus, s. v.), are all liable to two serious objec- tions, that they neither represent the Egyptian name nor afford an explanation of the use of No alone. It seems most reasonable to suppose that A'o is a Shemitic name, and that Amon is added in Nahum (/. c.) to dis- tinguish Thebes from some other place bearing the same name, or on account of the connection of Amen with that citj% Thebes also bears in ancient Egyptian the common name, of doubtful signification, a]>-t or t-cip, which the Greeks represented by Tkebce. The whole metropolis, on both banks of the river, was called Tarn (see Brugsch, Geofjr. Inschr, i, 175 sq.). See No.
Various opinions have been entertained as to the site of this city. That it was in Egypt all admit. The Sept. identifies it with Diospolis; but there were two places of this name — one in Lower Egypt, near the sea, and encompassed by the marshes of the Delta (Strabo, xviii, p. 802) ; and with this Champollion and others identify No (VEgypte, ii, 131) ; and Gesenius {I.e.') well observes that it would not then be compared in Nahum to Nineveh. The other was Thebes, in Upper Egypt, which is probably the place really referred to in the Sept. For No, Jerome in the Vulg. reads Alexandria (as also the Chaldee, the Rabbins, and Drusius); but the town of Alexandria was not in existence in the
time of Jeremiah ; and yet it appears from the words of Nahum {I. c.) that No had been already destroyed in his day (see Bochart, Opera, i, C). This and the evi- dence of the Assyrian record leave no doubt that it is Thebes. The description of No -Amon, as "situate among the rivers, the waters round about it" (Nah. I.e.), remarkably characterizes Thebes, the only town of ancient Egypt which we know to have been built on both sides of the Nile ; and the prophecy that it should "be rent asunder" (Ezek. xxx, IG) cannot fail to ap- pear remarkably significant to the observer who stands amid the vast ruins of its chief edifice, the great temple of Amen, which is rent and shattered as if by an earthquake, although it must be held to refer pri- marily, at least, rather to the breaking up or capture of the city (comp. 2 Kings xxv, 4 ; Jer. lii, 7), than to its destruction. — Kitto ; Smith. See Thedes.
Nob (Heb. id. -3, prob. an elevation; Sept. N(5/3, No/3«, Noj[(/3(J, V. r. 'tiuj.ipa, VojSaB, etc.; Josephus Nw/3«, Ant. vi, 12, 1), a sacerdotal city in the tribe of Benjamin, situated on some eminence near Jerusalem. When David fled from the court of Saul at Gibeah, we are told that " he came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest" (1 Sam. xxi, 1). It appears from the narrative that the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant were then located in that city, for David got part of the show- bread which was kept before the Lord (ver. 4 ; comp. Exod. xxv, 30; Luke xxiv, 5-9). David's visit was fatal to Nob. Doeg the Edoraite, Saul's shepherd, had seen him there, and informed his master. Ahimelech was summoned before the mad king, and sentence pro- nounced upon him, " Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house." Not an Israelite, however, would raise a hand against the priests of the Lord ; and Doeg, the stranger spy, became the tyrant's executioner. He " slew on that day fourscore and five persons who did wear a linen ephod ; and Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep" (1 Sam. xxii, 9-19). The posi- tion of Nob is incidentally indicated in this narrative. It laj^ south of Gibeah, for David was on his way to Philistia when he called at Nob (1 Sam. xxi, 10) ; the narrative shows, too, that it was close to Gibeah. It would be a long time naturally before the doomed city could recover from such a blow. It appears, in fact, never to have regainetl its ancient importance. That it was on one of tlie roads which led from the north to the capital, and within sight of it, is certain from the illustrative passage in which Isaiah (x, 28-32) describes the approach of the Assyrian army : "He comes to Ai, passes through Migron,
At Michmash deposits his baggage ;
They cross the pass, Geba is our uight-station ;