The very modest remains of the once splendid capital city of Memphis, of whose wealth and magnificence ancient writers give such glowing accounts, are scattered about amid the houses, palm groves and fields in the fertile land on the east bank of the Nile opposite the cemeteries of Saqqara. As was the general practice from the Old Kingdom right through to the Roman Imperial period, dwelling houses and other secular buildings were constructed of sun dried brick and were thus relatively impermanent. Limestone and granite were used only for temples and occasionally for royal palaces; but these buildings were pulled down in later periods and the stones reused in new construction.
History
The story of Memphis reaches
back to the very beginnings of Egyptian history. Menes, the first historical Egyptian ruler, is credited with the building of the "White Walls", a fortress established on land reclaimed from swamp on the borders between the two ancient kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, in order to keep the conquered inhabitants of Lower Egypt in subjection. To the south of the town he erected a temple dedicated to the town's patron god Ptah, who during the Greek period was identified with Hephaestus. The new foundation rapidly prospered, becoming capital of the first nome of Lower Egypt, and the kings of the early dynasties from time to time established their residence in the town.
Under the Sixth Dynasty a new district of the town grew up, in which King Phiops (Pepi) I took up his residence, building his pyramid in the vicinity of the town. The pyramid was given the same name as the King, Men-nefru-Mite, "The beauty of Mire [i.e. Phiops] remains"; and this name, later contracted to Menfe (Greek Memphis) was applied to the town as a whole.
The city's most flourishing period was during the Old Kingdom, whose rulers had their royal residence either in Memphis or in the vicinity, at Giza or Abusir. It was scarcely less important, however, under the Kings of the Middle and New Kingdoms, when Thebes became the center of Egypt and the Theban god Amun the principal Egyptian deity. In the time of the 20th Dynasty the Temple of Ptah at Thebes was still the third largest in the country.
Later, during the recurring struggles for control of Egypt from the 22nd Dynasty onwards, the Ethiopians, led by Piankhi, and the Assyrians captured the town. Cambyses, the first ruler of the Persian dynasty, took it by storm after defeating Psammetichus II at Pelusium in 525 B.C. Even after the foundation of Alexandria in 331 B.C., however, Memphis seems to have retained its importance. Still later, in the time of Augustus, it was a large and populous city, although its palaces, built on higherground, were by then destroyed. Of its temples there still remained the Temple of Ptah, a temple dedicated to Apis and another dedicated to a female divinity, perhaps the Greek Aphrodite. Towards the end of the fourth C. the temples were destroyed under an edict issued by the Emperor Theodosius (A.D. 379-395). Under the later Byzantine Emperors the Monophysite heresy appears to have had many adherents in the town.
When the Arabs arrived Muqauqis, leader of the Copts, negotiated with Caliph Omar's general Amr ibn el-As from his residence at Memphis. The Muslim conquerors established their capital on the right bank of the Nile opposite the north end of Memphis, and used dressed stone from Memphis for building their palaces, fortresses and mosques in Cairo. Much later, however, the ruins of Memphis still excited the admiration of visitors: the Arab writer Abdellatif (1162-1231 ), for example, reported that the profusion of marvels to be seen at Memphis bewildered the mind and baffled description. Thereafter the town seems to have fallen into complete ruin and been forgotten.
Hobbies & Activities category: Archeological site or ruin; UNESCO World Heritage Site
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