E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Thebes (1 syl.),
called The Hundred-Gated, was not Thebes of Bœotia, but of Thebaïs of Egypt, which extended over twenty-three miles of land. Homer says out of each gate the Thebans could send forth 200 war - chariots. (Egyptian, Taape or Taouab, city of the sun.)
1
“The world’s great empress on the Egyptian plain,
That spreads her conquests o’er a thousand states,
