The glory of Thebes belongs to a period, prior to the commencement of authentic history. It is recorded only by the divine light of poetry and tradition, which might be suspected as fable, did not such mighty witnesses remain to attest the truth. A curious calculation, made from the rate of increase of deposition by the Nile, corroborated by other evidence, shows however that this city must have been founded four thousand seven hundred and sixty years ago, or two thousand nine hundred and thirty before Christ. There are the ruins of a temple, bearing an inscription, stating that it was founded by Osymandyas, who reigned, according to M. Champollion, two thousand two hundred and seventy years before Christ.
THEBES.
Thebes was called, also, Diospolis, as having been sacred to Jupiter; and Hecatompylos, on account, it is supposed, of its having had a hundred gates.
“Not all proud Thebes’ unrivall’d walls contains, The world’s great empress, on the Egyptian plain; That spreads her conquests o’er a thousand states, And pours her heroes through a hundred gates— Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars, From each wide portal issuing to the wars.” Homer’s Iliad; Pope.
“This epithet Hecatompylos, however,” says Mr. Wilkinson, “applied to it by Homer, has generally been supposed to refer to the hundred gates of its wall of circuit; but this difficulty is happily solved by an observation of Diodorus, that many suppose them ‘to have been the propylæa of the temples,’ and that this expression rather implies a plurality, than a definite number.”
Historians are unanimously agreed, that Menes was the first king of Egypt. It is pretended, and not without foundation, that he is the same with Misraim, the son of Cham. Cham was the second son of Noah. When the family of the latter, after the attempt of building the Tower of Babel, dispersed themselves into different countries; Cham retired to Africa, and it was, doubtless, he who afterwards was worshipped as a god, under the name of Jupiter Ammon. He had four children, Chus, Misraim, Phut, and Canaan. Chus settled in Ethiopia, Misraim in Egypt, which generally is called in Scripture after his name, and by that of Cham, his father. Phut took possession of that part of Africa which lies westward of Egypt; and Canaan, of the country which has since borne his name.
Misraim is agreed to be the same as Menes, whom all historians declare to be the first king of Egypt; the institutor of the worship of the gods, and of the ceremonies of the sacrifices.
Some ages after him, Busiris built the city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire. This prince is not to be confounded with the Busiris who, in so remarkable a manner, distinguished himself by his inordinate cruelties. In respect to Osymandyas, Diodorus gives a very particular account of many magnificent edifices raised by him; one of which was adorned with sculpture and paintings of great beauty, representing an expedition against the Bactrians, a people of Asia, whom he had invaded with four hundred thousand foot, and twenty thousand horse. In another part of the edifice was exhibited an assembly of the judges, whose president wore on his breast a picture of Truth, with her eyes shut, and himself surrounded with books; an emphatic emblem, denoting that judges ought to be perfectly versed in the laws, and impartial in the administration of them. The king, also, was painted there, offering to the gods silver and gold, which he drew from the mines of Egypt, amounting to the sum of sixteen millions.
So old as this king’s reign, the Egyptians divided the year into twelve months, each consisting of thirty days; to which they added, every year, five days and six hours. To quote the words of a well-known writer, (Professor Heeren,) “its monuments testify to us a time when it was the centre of the civilisation of the human race; a civilisation, it is true, which has not endured, but which, nevertheless, forms one of the steps by which mankind has attained to higher perfection.”