TEBE. - A city of ancient Egypt known to the Greeks as Θῆβαι; its Egyptian name was *Wôse* and later *Nî'*, and it was the preeminent city; in Hebrew it is *Nô* (with a vocative *N'*). Translations often confuse it with "Alexandria" (cf. St. Jerome: PG 25, 289).
It was the capital of Egypt under the XI Dynasty and for long subsequent periods, so much so that its kings adorned it with sumptuous buildings, whose ruins still form (at Luxor and Karnak) the wonder of visitors, and extended its circuit to make it one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. After the XXII Dynasty, T. became the holy city of Egypt. During the struggle between the Ethiopian king Tantamane (663-656) and Ashurbanipal, it suffered immense damage; the prophet Nahum (3:8-10) recalls this, alluding to it while prophesying the imminent ruin of Nineveh. The prophets Jeremiah (46:25) and Ezekiel (29:10) prophesy the defeat of Necho in 605.