Memphisalso spelled Manf, Minf, or Manfishcity and capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 BC), and an important centre during much of Egyptian history. Memphis is located south of the Nile River delta, on the west bank of the river, and about 15 miles (25 24 km) south of modern Cairo. Closely associated with the ancient city’s site are the cemeteries, or necropolises, of Memphis, where the famous pyramids of Egypt are located. From north to south , the main pyramid fields are: Abū Ruwaysh, Giza, Zāwyat Zāwiyat al-ʿAryanʿAryān, Abū Ṣīr, Ṣaqqārah, and Dahshūr. The Memphis archaeological zone was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
Foundation and Early Dynastic Period



The original name prominence of the city was the White Wall, and the term may have referred originally to the king’s palace, whose walls would have been built of whitewashed brick. The colour also had political significance: white was the colour of the Lower Egyptian crown.No remains of the period of Menes have come to light in the city site itself, but the evidence of the Memphite necropolises confirms the traditional age of the city. The large, Memphis during the earliest periods is indicated by the extensive cemeteries of the Early Dynastic period (c. 2925–c. 2575 BCE) and Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 BCE) that cluster along the desert bluffs to the west. Large elaborately niched tombs of the 1st and 2nd dynasties (c. 2925–c 2925–c. 2650 BC BCE) found at Ṣaqqārah have been claimed as royal tombs, but some scholars doubt that Memphis was the sole, or even the primary, capital of Egypt under those dynasties. According to the 3rd-century-BC historian Manetho, the 1st and 2nd dynasties originated at Tjene, or Thinis, in Upper Egypt. Thinis is near Abydos, and excavations at Abydos uncovered rectangular cut-stone tombs (mastabas) of this period that were long believed to be the royal burials of the first dynasties. To complicate the matter still further, there are equally important tombs of the period at other sites, such as Tarkhan and Abū Ruwaysh. Scholars disagree as to which of these are actually royal tombs, which are simply memorials, and which are tombs of important , once argued to be royal monuments, were later accepted as private tombs of powerful courtiers.

The Old Kingdom

The Memphis reached preeminence of Memphis by the 3rd dynasty is unquestioned. . The 3rd-century-BCE historian Manetho calls the 3rd and 4th dynasties (c. 2650–c 2650–c. 2465 BC BCE) Memphite, and the huge royal pyramid tombs of this period, in the necropolises of Memphis, confirm this. Djoser, the second king of the 3rd dynasty, was the builder of the Step Pyramid of Ṣaqqārah, the first large monument to be constructed entirely of stoneearliest royal foundation at Memphis and the first important stone building in Egypt. Imhotep, the king’s architect and adviser, is credited with this architectural feat; his reputation as a wise man and physician led , in later times , to his deification and his identification with the Greek god Asclepius.





Later history

Memphite influence continued during the Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1600? BC1938–c. 1630 BCE), when Egypt was once more reunited, but with the official residence of the 12th dynasty (1938–c1938–c. 1756) was at Lishtat nearby Itj-tawy (near modern Al-Lisht), near the entrance to Al-Fayyūm. Several 12th-dynasty monarchs erected pyramids at Dahshūr, the southernmost of the Memphite pyramid fields, but the majority of Middle Kingdom monuments were located nearer to Al-Lisht. Yet the predominant artistic and administrative influences during this period seem to be Memphite, and virtually every 12th-dynasty ruler added to the great temple of Ptah.

Another period of political and social chaos followed the 13th dynasty. This Second Intermediate Period (c. 1630–1540 BCE) is characterized by the presence in Egypt of the Asian Hyksos peoples. According to the 1st-century-AD CE historian Josephus, the Hyksos king, whom he calls Salitis, made his capital at Memphis and from there ruled both Upper and Lower Egypt. Inscriptional and archaeological evidence, though it is scanty, tends to confirm the assumption that the invaders Hyksos controlled northern Egypt, but their capital is generally supposed to have been located at Avaris, near Tanis, in the Nile delta. Records left by Kamose, the 17th-dynasty (c. 1630–1540 BCE) king who initiated the reconquest of Egypt from the Hyksos, describe his holdings as extending from Elephantine to Hermopolis Magna but note that he “could not pass by (the invader) as far as Memphis.”

With the final expulsion of the Hyksos and the restoration of a united kingdom under the 18th dynasty (c. 1539–1292 BCE), based at Thebes in Upper Egypt, Memphis entered a new period of prosperity. Some scholars claim that Memphis never lost its political preeminence and that during the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 BCE), as in earlier times, the city was the actual political capital of Egypt, with Thebes merely the religious centre. Such a hypothesis is impossible to prove, and it may well be that such distinctions, with their rigidity and exclusiveness, are meaningless in terms of Egyptian culture.

The importance of Memphis was based to a considerable extent on its venerable religious role. Certain of the coronation ceremonies were traditionally enacted in Memphis, as was the Heb-Sed festival, a jubilee celebrated by the king after 30 years of rule and repeated every three years thereafter, perhaps a ritual reenactment of the coronation that restored and restated the supernatural powers of the kingshipunification of Egypt.

During the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075), Memphis probably functioned as the second, or northern, capital of Egypt. At one time it seems to have been the principal residence of the crown prince. Several 18th-dynasty (c. 1539–1292) inscriptions mention royal hunting parties in the desert near the Sphinx. Amenhotep II (reigned c. 1426–1400 1426–00 BCE) was born at Memphis and held the office of high priest there. Both he and his son, Thutmose IV (reigned 1400–1390 BCE), left inscriptions at Giza.

Despite the rise of the god Amon of Thebes, Ptah remained one of the principal gods of the pantheon. The great temple of Ptah was added to or rebuilt by virtually every king of the 18th dynasty. Chapels were constructed by Thutmose I and , Thutmose IV, and by Amenhotep III. Amenhotep III’s son, the religious reformer Akhenaton, built a temple to his god, Aton, in Memphis. A number of handsome private tombs dating from this period in the Memphite necropolis testify to the existence of a sizable court.



By the end of the 20th dynasty (1190–1075 BCE) the united kingdom had begun to break down once again. The official capitals were Tanis and Thebes, but the royal palace at Memphis also continued to be mentioned. The growing popularity of the Apis cult led to further enlargement of the Serapeum. In the 8th century BC, BCE the Nubian king Piye conquered Egypt and restored its unity. Nubia (Cush, or Kush), to the south of Egypt, had been under Egyptian political and cultural influence for centuries. An inscription describing Piye’s campaign has survived, and it mentions a siege of Memphis. The city had fortified walls and was surrounded by water, presumably from its encircling canals. Piye took the city, but it was left to his brother and successor, Shabaka, to claim the royal title. There are some indications that this king made Memphis his capital. But the Cushite ( Kushite ) dynasty was overthrown shortly thereafter, when the Assyrians invaded Egypt. Records left by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680–669 BC BCE) refer to the siege and destruction of Memphis, the royal residence of one Tarku (Taharqa), king of Egypt, who became pharaoh in 690 BC BCE. After the death of Esarhaddon, Taharqa regained Memphis, but he was driven out of the city again by Ashurbanipal of Assyria, in 667/668 BC BCE.

The collapse of Assyria (612 BC BCE) led to brief Egyptian independence under the 26th dynasty (664–525 BCE; see ancient Egypt: The Late period), but it was not long before new invaders appeared. The Persian Cambyses II took Memphis by siege in 525 BC BCE. After years of Persian rule, Egypt was ready to welcome Alexander the Great in 332 BC BCE. The conqueror used Memphis as his headquarters while making plans for his new city of Alexandria. After his death at Babylon, his body was brought to Egypt and was laid to rest temporarily in Memphis before being buried at Alexandria.

Under the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty (332–30 BC BCE), Memphis retained its cosmopolitan character and had a sizable Greek population. Some of the diversified racial types to be found in the city during Greco-Roman times are depicted in a series of striking terra-cotta heads dating from this period.

At the beginning of the Roman period (1st century BC BCE), Memphis was still considered an important provincial capital. The serious decay of the ancient city began after the rise of Christianity, when zealots of that faith defaced and destroyed the remaining pagan temples. In the 5th century AD CE the Christian monastery of Apa Jeremias rose among the venerable tombs of Ṣaqqārah. The capital continued to deteriorate, receiving its death blow during the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 640 CE. A garrison and fort called Babylon occupied the eastern end of the bridge that crossed the Nile from Memphis, and after a long siege the fortress was taken by the Arab general ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. Memphis was abandoned, and later the few remaining structures were dismantled so that the stone might be reused in the neighbouring villages and in Cairo, after that city’s foundation founding in the 10th century.





Petrie’s excavations are detailed in W.M. Flinders Petrie et al., Memphis, 6 vol. (1909–15). Dorothy J. Crawford, Jan Quaegebeur, and Willy Clarysse, Studies on Ptolemaic Memphis (1980), describes the interaction between rulers and priests in Memphis in cultural and political terms. Dorothy J. Thompson, Memphis Under the Ptolemies (1988), studies all aspects of the city during the Hellenistic period. The Egyptian Exploration Society survey is chronicled in D.G. Jeffreys, The Survey of Memphis (1985– ).