Rising
to political power only in the middle
of the second millennium before Christ,
Thebes became the synonym of extravagant
wealth, probably collected by the Pharaohs
of the New Kingdom in their expeditions
to the south in the vast land of Kush
in the area of today's northern Sudan,
and to the north in Canaan, Phoenicia,
and Syria. Tuthmosis III was the first
Pharaoh to reach the then faraway Euphrates
in Mesopotamia. In those days, no other
city in the world could match Waset in
military power or beauty. Much of the
palatial or residential areas of the city
have not been excavated, but there is
every reason to believe that a sublime
beauty was to be found there: ancient
Egyptian pictures of houses, gardens,
fields, palaces and feasts offer a furtive
glimpse of this paradise-on-the-Nile.
There was a love for nature, piety and
serene thought; everything took place
under the auspices of the Trinity of Ancient
Egyptian mythology: Amun, Mut and Montu
-- a family whose last and youngest member
was usually confused or identified with
Khonsu, the Moon.
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