<P> Thebes was located along the banks of the Nile River in the middle part of Upper Egypt about 800 km from the Delta . It was built largely on the alluvial plains of the Nile Valley which follows a great bend of the Nile . As a natural consequence, the city was laid in a northeast - southwest axis parallel to the contemporary river channel . Thebes had an area of 93 km (36 sq mi) which included parts of the Theban Hills in the west that culminates at the sacred 420 - meter (1,378 - foot) al - Qurn . In the east lies the mountainous Eastern Desert with its wadis draining into the valley . Significant of these wadis is Wadi Hammamat near Thebes . It was used as an overland trade route going to the Red Sea coast . </P> <P> In the fourth Upper Egyptian nome, Thebes was found to have neighboring towns such as Per - Hathor, Madu, Djerty, Iuny, Sumenu and Imiotru . </P> <P> According to George Modelski, Thebes had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2000 BC (compared to 60,000 in Memphis, the largest city of the world at the time). By 1800 BC, the population of Memphis was down to about 30,000, making Thebes the largest city in Egypt at the time . Historian Ian Morris estimated that by 1500 BC, Thebes may have grown to be the largest city in the world, with a population of about 75,000, a position which it held until about 900 BC, when it was surpassed by Nimrud (among others). </P> <P> The archaeological remains of Thebes offer a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height . The Greek poet Homer extolled the wealth of Thebes in the Iliad, Book 9 (c. 8th Century BC): "...in Egyptian Thebes the heaps of precious ingots gleam, the hundred - gated Thebes ." </P>

The pharaoh moved the capital from luxor to what is known today as