“No Amon” in Nahum

[Nahum 3:8-10] “Are you better than Thebes [No Amon], which was situated by the Nile, with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water? Ethiopia and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libyans were your helpers. Yet she was carried away; she went into captivity; her little ones were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.”

“No Amon” is the Hebrew name for Thebes, the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, located on the upper Nile River. As the Nile flowed through Thebes, it split into four branches. At that time, the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (744-656 BC) in Thebes was controlled by the Cushites. “Put” (or Phut) and “Libya” (or Lubim) were allies of Thebes.

Thebes, like Nineveh, had magnificent temples, strong defenses, rivers serving as natural barriers, and powerful military alliances. Yet, in 663 BC, it was captured by the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (reigned 668-627 BC). After King Ashurbanipal’s death, Assyria also rapidly declined. Nineveh itself fell to the Babylonian-Median coalition within fifteen years, meeting the same fate as Thebes, which Ashurbanipal had conquered.