wall of this court is sculptured the famous list of the tlomlnions and coiKjiiests of Sheshenk I, the Shishak of Scripture, which has already been mentioned. See Shi.shak. The great hall of cohmins is immediately beyond the court, and is of the same width, but 170 feet long: it was supported by 134 columns, the loftiest of which, forming the central avenue, are nearly seventy feet high, and about twelve in diameter; the rest more than forty feet high, and about nine in diameter. This forest of columns produces a singularly grand effect. The external sculptures commemorate the wars of Se- thos I and his son Kameses II, mainly in Syria. Beyond the great hall are many ruined chambers, and two great obelisks standing in their places amid a heap of ruins. — JMore than a mile to the south-west of the temple of El- Karnak is that of El-Uksur (Luxor), a smaller but still gigantic edifice of the same character and age, on the bank of the Nile, and having witliin and partly arotnid it the houses of the modern village. — On the western bank are three temples of importance, a small one of Sethos I, the beautiful Ramesi'inn of Hameses 11, commonly called the Memnonium, and tlie stately temple of Kameses
THEBES
308
THEBES
III, the RamesGiim of iMedinet-Habu. extending in thi order towards the south. Between the Kameseiini of 1-tameses II and that of Hameses III was a temple raised hy Ameiio])h III, of which scarcely any remains are now standing, exce])t the two great colossi, the Vocal ]Mem- niiM and its fellow, monoliths about forty-seven feet high, exclusive of the pedestals, which have a height of about twelve feet. They represented Anienoph, and were part if tiie dromos which led to his temple. — Besides these temples of Western Tliebes, the desert tract beneath the mountain b()nlering the cultivable land and the lower (ievations of the mountain, in addition to almost count- less mummy-pits, are covered with built tombs, an<l hon- ey-combed with sepulchral grottos, which, in their beau- id'ul paintings, tell ns the lives of the former occupants, xr represent the mystical sidijects of the soul's existence after death. Tlie latter are almost exclusively the dec- orations of the Tombs of the Kings, which are excavated
in two remote valleys behind the mountain. These tombs are generally very deep galleries, and are remark- able for tlie extreme delicacy of their paintings, wliich, like most of the historical records of Thebes, have suf- fered more at the hands of civilized barbarians in this century than from the effects of time. For fuller de- scriptions, see the numerous histories and Ixjoks of travel on Egypt. The ruins have been copiously de- picted photographically. See Ecvrr.
V. Biblical Aotices. — The most reniarkal)le of the no- tices of '1 hebes in the Bible is that in Nahum, where the prophet warns Nineveh by her rival's overthrow. '•Art thou better than No-Amon, that was situate among the rivers, [that had] the waters round alxuit it. whose rampart [was] the sea, [and] lier w;dl [wa^] from the seaV" Notwithstanding her natural as well as po- litical strength, Thebes had been sacked and ihe jjeo- ple carried captive (iii, 8-lOJ. The description of the
The Meniuouiuiu at Thebes.
THEBES, SEVEN HEROES OF 309
THECLA
city applies remarkably to Thebes, which alone of all the cities of Eirypt was built on both sides of the river, here twice called, as now liy the modern inhabitants.
The'bez (llcb. Tebets', "j^niTI, conspicuous; Sept. Ollliijg [ V. r. B«(/,3cf((,] and Ba/ittcri ; Vulg. Thebes}, n place mentioned in the Bible only as the scone of the
the sea. The prophecy that it should "be rent asunder" j ^jg^th of the usurper Abimelech (Judg. ix, 50). After
( Ezek. XXX, 16) probably primarily refers to its break ing-up or capture; but the traveller can scarcely doubt a second and more literal sense wiien he looks upon its vast torn and heaped-up ruins. The other notices are in Ezek. xiv, 15, and in Jer. xlvi, 20. — Kicto; Smith. See No.
THEHES, The Seven Hi'-.tjoES ok, in (irecian my- thology, were a body of cliief aius who engaged in t lie first Thebanwar. Jocaste, the mother ol (Ivlipus, was inad- vertently guilty of incest with her son, and liore him the twin-brothers Eteocles and Tolynices, tliough some au- thorities name Eurygania as their mother. After the dis- coverv of his incest (Edipus was banished, and fled, leav- ing his curse upon his children. Eteocles and I'olynices agreed to reign alternately, a year at a time and the for- mer ascended tlietlironeby virtue of seniority : but when the vear expired he refused to make way for his brother, who thereupon fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, bearing with him the necklace and mantle of Harmonia, both of wliich were covered with jewels and were exceeding- 1 V precious, having been made by Vulcan, but which were to bring misfortune to the person into whose possession they might come. Polynices reached Argos at night, and met Tydeus, who had just arrived from ^^itolia, and the two became involved in a quarrel, which Adrastus settled. An ancient oracle having commanded that the daughters of Adrastus should wed a lion and a boar, they were given to the visitors because they bore correspond- ing devices — Polynices a lion's, and Tydeus a boar's, head. Adrea became the wife of the former, and Dei'pyle of the latter. Adrastus promised to recover the lost thrones for his sons-in-law, and directed his lirst efforts towards Thebes in behalf of Polynices — the war of the Seven Uffiiinst. Thebes (see /Eschylus). The leading heroes of the Argives having been summoned, Ampliiaraus, Cap- aneus, Hippomedon, and ParthenopiBus joined the ex- pedition, thus completing the list of seven. Amphiaraus, a favorite of Jupiter and Apollo, a seer, foresaw the fail- ure of the attempt, and endeavored to avoid participating in it by concealing himself, but was discovered, and com- pelled by his sense of honor to unite with his comrades. In the forest of Nemea the heroes suffered much from thirst; but, meeting with Hypsipyle of Lemnos, the nurse of young Opheltes, son of Lycnrgus, they induced her to direct them to a spring, which she did — to the harm of Opheltes, however, whom a serpent destroyed in lier absence. Funeral games were held in honor of the dead, but the gods had decreed the ruin of the expedition. Tydeus was sent in advance to negotiate, but without other result than that fifty men surprised him while returning, whom, with the single exception of INIaon, he slew with his own hand. The heroes then took posses- sion of all approaches to the city, and established tiiem- selves before the several gates. The seer Tiresias warned the Thebans that the city must fall, imless some one should voluntarily sacrifice himself for its deliver- ance. Menoeceus accordingly threw liimself headlong from the wall, and the war began. Capaneus had al- ready mounted the wall when .Jupiter's lightning smote him to the ground, and with him fortune tied. Eteocles and Polynices slew each other in single combat. Five of the seven heroes fell. Am)ihiaraiis fletl, and was re- ceived by .Jupiter into the earth, while Adrastus escaped on his divine steed Arion, the offspring of Neptune. The victorious Thebans forbade the burial of their ene- mies on pain of deatli; and Creon caused Antigone, who had performed the last rites of love on the remains of her brother Polynices, to be buried alive. The humane intercession of Theaeus, king of .Athens, ultimately in- duced the Thebans to withdraw their cruel prohibition. Adrastus subsequently took uji the sword again, and led the sons of the heroes, the so-called Epigoni, in a vic- torious campaign against Thebes.