It was main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome, from the late fourth dynasty (c.2613-2494 B.C.) of the Old Kingdom period (c. 2686-2160 B.C.).
Thebes was a capital city for Egyptian pharaohs in parts of the Middle Kingdom's 11th dynasty (c.2040-1991 B.C.) and the New Kingdom's 18th dynasty (c.1550–1290 B.C.). It was located in Upper Egypt, with Luxor and Karnak as its main religious complexes. When Upper and Lower Egypt were re-united, in the Middle Kingdom period, Thebes became the dominant city.
The center of the metropolis went from one of these temples to the other. An avenue of sphinxes connected the Temple of Luxor with the giant Karnak complex (of Valley of the Kings fame), home of the Egyptian deity Amun-Re, connected with the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, and his successors, including Tutankhamen. Construction at Karnak appears from the early part of the Middle Kingdom period.
Sources:
Joseph Grafton Milne , Antony J. S. Spawforth "Thebes (2)" The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. © Oxford University Press 1949, 1970, 1996, 2005.
"Thebes" The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Aidan Dodson "Karnak and Luxor" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996.
Daniel C. Polz "Thebes" The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Ed. Donald B. Redford, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2001
