Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An ancient city of Upper Egypt on the Nile River in present-day central Egypt. It flourished from the mid-22nd to the 18th century BC as a royal residence and a religious center for the worship of Amun. Its archaeological remains include many splendid temples and the tomb of Tutankhamun in the nearby Valley of the Kings.
  • An ancient city of Boeotia in east-central Greece northwest of Athens. Originally a Mycenaean city, it reached the height of its power in the fourth century BC but was largely destroyed by Alexander in 336.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Any of two important cities in antiquity, either in Greece or Egypt.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an ancient Greek city in Boeotia destroyed by Alexander the Great in 336 BC
  • noun an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River that flourished from the 22nd century BC to the 18th century BC; today the archeological remains include many splendid temples and tombs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Θῆβαι (Thēbai), from Ionic-Attic Θῆβῆ (Thēbē), from Mycenean teqa, from Proto-Hellenic *Thēgʷā.

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