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{{location infobox
| name=Menegroth
| image=Alan Lee - Beleg Departs from Menegroth.jpg
| caption="Beleg Departs from Menegroth" by [[Alan Lee]]
| pronun={{respell|meh|neg|roth}}
| othernames=
| location=Central [[Doriath]], above the [[Esgalduin]]
| type=City
| description=Cavern-town hewed in the rocky hill on the banks of [[Esgalduin]]
| regions=
| towns=
| inhabitants=[[Sindar]]<br />[[Nandor]]
| created={{YT|1300}}<ref>{{GA|22}}</ref>
| destroyed={{FA|507}}<ref name="Ruin"/>
| events=[[Second Kinslaying]]
}}

'''Menegroth''', the '''Thousand Caves''', was the city in the land of [[Doriath]] which was home to king [[Thingol]] of the [[Sindar]]in elves and queen [[Melian]], one of the [[Maiar]], during the [[First Age]]. It was the location of the [[Menelrond]], the hall where Thingol's Throne was situated.<ref>{{PM|XII}}</ref>

=History=
==Years of the Trees==
During the ages of the [[Chaining of Melkor]], the [[Sindar]] had lived scattered in Beleriand, some at the havens of the [[Falas]], others in the woodlands of [[Region]] and [[Neldoreth]] where also their King [[Thingol]] and his queen [[Melian]] abode. When the third Age of Melkor's chaining began, Melian urged Thingol to build a fast place for their people. Thingol was on friendly terms with the Dwarves and he commissioned the [[Dwarves of Belegost]] to aid with the building of a fortress.

Much after the manner of the Dwarves they delved an underground fortress into a rocky hill on the banks of [[Esgalduin]], where the river turned to the west. The only entrance were gates high above the river, that at this place ran in a deep ravine and was crossed by a stone bridge. The place was thereafter known as Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, because so many were the halls the Dwarves had hewn out of the rock.

After the [[First Battle of Beleriand]], many Elves who had not lived in the cities fled to Doriath, which was afterwards protected by the [[Girdle of Melian]].<ref name="Sindar">{{S|Sindar}}</ref>

==Years of the Sun==
Menegroth and Doriath enjoyed peace for a long time. Thingol preferred a policy of isolationism and not to mingle in the affairs of the [[Noldor]], the [[Battles of Beleriand|War of the Jewels]] and the conflict with [[Morgoth]] in general. No host of Doriath participated in any of the great battles, except the First. Only with [[House of Finarfin|his kin]] in [[Nargothrond]] did Thingol remain in contact.<ref>{{S|Noldor}}</ref><ref>{{S|Fifth}}</ref>
[[File:Felix Sotomayor - Beren at Thingol's Court.jpg|thumb|left|''Beren at Thingol's Court'' by [[Felix Sotomayor]]]]
Yet Menegroth also became entangled in the fate of the [[Silmaril]] and thus the [[Oath of Fëanor]] and the [[Doom of Mandos]]. When the man [[Beren]] asked for the hand of Thingol's daughter Lúthien in marriage, Thingol was affronted, thinking little of mortal men. As a bride price he demanded that Beren should bring one of the Silmarils from Morgoth's iron crown.<ref name="Beren">{{S|Beren}}</ref>

With the help of Lúthien, Beren succeeded, but the price was high: [[Carcharoth]], the wolf who was guarding the Gates of [[Angband]], bit off the hand in which Beren was holding the Silmaril. Driven mad by the pain that the hallowed stone caused to him, searing his intestines, Carcharoth ravaged Beleriand and finally broke through Melian's Girdle, threatening Menegroth. He was confronted somewhat to the north-east from the city at the banks of Esgalduin and killed by [[Huan]] the Great Hound of Valinor, having wounded Beren mortally. The Silmaril was found in his stomach and thus found its way to Menegroth.<ref name="Beren"/>

===Sack of Doriath===
Years later, [[Húrin Thalion]] brought as a gift, though his heart was bitter, the famed dwarf necklace [[Nauglamír]] to Thingol. Thingol then had become enchanted by the beauty of the Silmaril and in his mind made up a plan, to set the Silmaril into the Nauglamír. It happened that at this time a troop of [[Dwarves of Nogrod|Dwarves from Nogrod]] were in Menegroth. Thingol offered a high price to them if they managed to set the stone into the Nauglamír. But seeing the unrivalled jewel and the necklace a great desire and greed came upon them to possess both. When they had finished their work they claimed the treasure; Thingol was slain by them and they fled from Menegroth.<ref name="Ruin">{{S|Doriath}}</ref>

News of the event spread fast and the Dwarves were hunted and slain. Two of them escaped and told a crooked tale about how they were betrayed and their brethren slaughtered by the Elves. The Dwarves of Nogrod rose in anger and mustered a great army. Doriath lay open to their onslaught; the Girdle was gone since Melian, in deep sorrow for her husband's death, had left Middle-earth.<ref name="Ruin"/>
[[File:Henning Janssen - Nauglamir and the Doom of Thingol.jpg|thumb|''Nauglamir and the Doom of Thingol'' by [[Henning Janssen]]]]
The Dwarves invaded Doriath and found little resistance as the captains of the Sindar were indecisive and despaired, and attacked Menegroth. Many Dwarves and Elves were slain during a [[battle in the Thousand Caves]]. [[Mablung]], captain of the guard, was slain at the doors of the treasure chamber where the Nauglamír was stored. This terrible event then led to the distrust that thereafter remained between Elves and Dwarves. However, on their way back, the Dwarves were waylaid at [[Sarn Athrad]] by the [[Laiquendi]] led by [[Beren]] and their king was slain by Beren in single combat. The remainder of their host was destroyed by [[Ents]].<ref name="Ruin"/>

===Second Kinslaying and ruin===
The Nauglamír with the Silmaril was thereafter worn by Lúthien at [[Tol Galen]] in [[Ossiriand]]. Although weakened, the Kingdom of Doriath continued for [[Dior|Dior Eluchíl]] son of Lúthien and Beren took up the crown. However, after the death of Lúthien and Beren the Nauglamír was returned to Doriath. The [[Oath of Fëanor]] stirred again and the [[Sons of Fëanor]] stated their claim on the Silmaril. Dior refused to hand over the stone for which his parents had endured so much. [[Celegorm]] instigated his brothers and in the midst of winter their hosts deployed at the gates of Menegroth and for a second time Elves were slain by Elves.<ref name="Ruin"/>

Dior and [[Nimloth|his wife]] were slain, and of the seven Sons of Fëanor only four survived the battle. Dior's sons, [[Eluréd]] and [[Elurín]], were abandoned in the forest to die, but his daughter [[Elwing]] fled to the havens at the [[Mouths of Sirion]], bearing the Silmaril with her. The realm of Menegroth did not endure this second slaughtering and did not rise again.<ref name="Ruin"/>

==Description==
Menegroth was a wholly underground city accessed only through a stone bridge over Esgalduin. While the Dwarves did the major work, the Elves also participated in the construction: the pillars imitated beeches with branches and leaves, the halls were lit by golden lanterns and there were silver fountains, and many figurines of animals. It is told that nightingales and other birds lived within the caves. Thus Thingol had the most beautiful palace a king ever had owned east of the Sea.<ref name="Sindar"/>

This description can be found in the ''[[Lay of Leithian]]'':
[[File:Henning Janssen - Stairs in the Thousand Caves.jpg|thumb|''Stairs in the Thousand Caves'' by [[Henning Janssen]]]]
[[File:Pete Amachree - Melian the Maia and her daughter Lúthien, in the throne room of Menegroth.jpg|thumb|''Melian the Maia and her daughter Lúthien, in the throne room of Menegroth'' by [[:Category:Images_by_Pete_Amachree|Pete Amachree]]]]
[[File:Pete Amachree - Daeron at the court of Menegroth.jpg|thumb|''Daeron at the court of Menegroth'' by [[:Category:Images_by_Pete_Amachree|Pete Amachree]]]]
{{blockquote|...through corridors of carven dread<br />
whose turns were lit by lanterns hung<br />
or flames from torches that were flung<br />
on dragons hewn in the cold stone<br />
with jewelled eyes and teeth of bone.<br />
Then sudden, deep beneath the earth<br />
the silences with silver mirth<br />
were shaken and the rocks were ringing,<br />
the birds of Melian were singing;<br />
and wide the ways of shadow spread<br />
as into arched halls she led<br />
[[Beren]] in wonder. There a light<br />
like day immortal and like night<br />
of stars unclouded, shone and gleamed.<br />
A vault of topless trees it seemed,<br />
whose trunks of carven stone there stood<br />
like towers of an enchanted wood<br />
in magic fast for ever bound,<br />
bearing a roof whose branches wound<br />
in endless tracery of green<br />
lit by some leaf-imprisoned sheen<br />
of moon and sun, and wrought of gems,<br />
and each leaf hung on golden stems.<br />
   Lo! there amid immortal flowers<br />
the nightingales in shining bowers<br />
sang o’er the head of Melian,<br />
while water for ever dripped and ran<br />
from fountains in the rocky floor.<br />
There Thingol sat.  His crown he wore<br />
of green and silver, and round his chair<br />
a host in gleaming armor fair...|''Lay of Leithian'', [[Lay of Leithian Canto IV|Canto IV]], vv.981-1011}}

This description is remarkably similar to the description of Morgoth's stronghold of [[Angband]] ([[Lay of Leithian Canto XIII|Canto XII]], lines 3840-3903), suggesting that in a way Tolkien envisioned Menegroth its direct opposite as the symbol of the forces of light.

==Etymology==
{{pronounce|Sindarin - Menegroth.mp3|Gilgamesh}}
''Menegroth'' is [[Sindarin]] for "Thousand Caves", from ''[[meneg]]'' ("thousand") + ''[[groth]]'' ("excavation").<ref>{{WJ|Author}}, p.414</ref>

In the earlier ''[[The Etymologies|Etymologies]]'', [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] explains the word is of [[Doriathrin]] language and gives the final element as Doriathrin ''[[roth]]''.<ref>{{LR|Etymologies}}, p. 384, entry "ROD"</ref>

In a text about Elvish nomenclatures, Tolkien used the form '''''Menegrond''''' a couple of times, which according to [[Carl F. Hostetter]], it may be a Sindarin form of the Doriathrin classical form ''Menegroth''.<ref>{{NM|P3xvii}}, "Notes", p. 365, note 8</ref>

==Other versions of the legendarium==
In the earliest version of the legendarium, ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', the dwelling of Thingol (then called Tinwelint) was a "rugged cave," and Tinwelint admits to his lack of wealth.<ref>{{LT2|In}}, p. 63</ref><ref>{{LT2|II}}, p. 95</ref> By the time ''[[The Lay of the Children of Húrin]]'' and ''[[The Lay of Leithian]]'' were written Thingol's dwelling had great hoards of wealth.<ref>{{LB|1b}}, p. 13</ref><ref>{{LB|C1}}, pp. 154-7</ref> By the late 1920s his abode had come to be called "The Thousand Caves," and by the early 1930s the name ''Menegroth'' had emerged.<ref>{{SM|2}}, pp. 11, 13</ref><ref>{{SM|6}}, pp. 271, 278</ref>

{{references}}
[[Category:Caves]]
[[Category:Cities, towns and villages]]
[[Category:Doriath]]
[[Category:Doriathrin words]]
[[Category:Sindarin locations]]

[[de:Menegroth]]
[[fi:Menegroth]]
[[fr:encyclo/geographie/villes tours et forteresses/beleriand/menegroth]]