, who was mainly worshipped in Memphis, The Walters Art Museum During the
Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom, Memphis became the capital of Ancient Egypt for more than six consecutive
dynasties. The city reached a peak of prestige under the
Sixth Dynasty as a centre for the worship of
Ptah, the god of creation and artworks. The alabaster
sphinx that guards the Temple of Ptah serves as a memorial of the city's former power and prestige. The Memphis
triad, consisting of the creator god Ptah, his consort
Sekhmet, and their son
Nefertem, formed the main focus of worship in the city. Memphis declined after the
Eighteenth Dynasty with the rise of
Thebes and the New Kingdom, but was revived under the
Persians, before falling firmly into second place following the founding of
Alexandria. Under the
Roman Empire, Alexandria remained the most important Egyptian city. Memphis remained the second city of Egypt until the establishment of
Fustat (or Fostat) in 641 AD. Afterward it was largely abandoned and became a source of stone for the surrounding settlements. It was still an imposing set of ruins in the twelfth century, but soon became little more than an expanse of low ruins and scattered stone.
Legendary history The legend recorded by
Manetho was that
Menes, the first king to unite the
Two Lands, established his capital on the banks of the
Nile by diverting the river with dikes. The Greek historian
Herodotus, who tells a similar story, relates that during his visit to the city, the
Persians, at that point the
suzerains of the country, paid particular attention to the condition of these dams so that the city was saved from the
annual flooding. It has been theorised that Menes may have been a mythical king, similar to
Romulus of Rome. Some scholars suggest that Egypt most likely became unified through mutual need, developing cultural ties and trading partnerships, although it is undisputed that the first capital of united Egypt was the city of Memphis. Some Egyptologists had identified the legendary Menes with the historical
Narmer, who is represented on the
Palette of Narmer conquering the territory of the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt and establishing himself as king. This palette has been dated to ca. 31st century BC and thus, would correlate with the legend of Egypt's unification by Menes. However, in 2012 an inscription depicting the visit of the predynastic king
Iry-Hor to Memphis was discovered in the Sinai.) is regarded in the Greek myths as the founder of Memphis, Egypt.
Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom Little is known about the city of the
Old Kingdom and before. It was the state capital of the powerful kings, who reigned from Memphis from the date of the
First Dynasty. According to Manetho, during the earliest years of the reign of Menes, the seat of power was farther to the south, at
Thinis. According to Manetho, ancient sources suggest the "white walls" (Ineb-hedj) or "fortress of the white wall" were founded by Menes. It is likely that the king established himself there to better control the new union between the two kingdoms that formerly were rivals. The
complex of Djoser of the
Third Dynasty, located in the ancient necropolis at
Saqqara, would then be the royal funerary chamber, housing all the elements necessary to royalty: temples, shrines, ceremonial courts, palaces, and barracks. The
golden age began with the
Fourth Dynasty, which seems to have furthered the primary role of Memphis as a royal residence where rulers received the
double crown, the divine manifestation of the unification of the Two Lands.
Coronations and jubilees such as the
Sed festival were celebrated in the temple of Ptah. The earliest signs of such ceremonies were found in the chambers of
Djoser. During this period, the clergy of the
temple of Ptah came into being. The importance of the temple is attested with payments of food and other goods necessary for the funerary rites of royal and noble dignitaries. This temple also is cited in the annals preserved on the
Palermo Stone, and beginning from the reign of
Menkaura, we know the names of the
high priests of Memphis who seem to have worked in pairs, at least until the reign of
Teti. The architecture of this period was similar to that seen at
Giza royal necropolis of the Fourth Dynasty, where recent excavations have revealed that the essential focus of the kingdom at that time centred on the construction of the royal tombs. A strong suggestion of this notion is the etymology of the name of the city itself, which matched that of the
pyramid of Pepi I of the
Sixth Dynasty. Memphis was then the heir to a long artistic and architectural practice, constantly encouraged by the monuments of preceding reigns. All these
necropoleis were surrounded by camps inhabited by craftsmen and labourers, dedicated exclusively to the construction of royal tombs. Spread over several kilometres stretching in all directions, Memphis formed a true
megalopolis, with temples connected by sacred
temenos, and ports connected by roadways and canals. The perimeter of the city thus gradually extended into a vast
urban sprawl. Its centre remained around the temple complex of Ptah.
Middle Kingdom At the beginning of the
Middle Kingdom, the capital and court of the king had moved to
Thebes in the south, leaving Memphis for a time. Although the seat of political power had shifted, Memphis did remain perhaps the most important commercial and artistic centre, as evidenced by the discovery of handicrafts districts and cemeteries, located west of the temple of Ptah. Also found were vestiges attesting to the architectural focus of this time. A large granite offering table on behalf of
Amenemhat I mentioned the erection by the king of a shrine to the god Ptah, master of Truth. Other blocks registered in the name of
Amenemhat II were found to be used as foundations for large monoliths preceding the pylons of Ramses II. These kings were also known to have ordered mining expeditions, raids, or military campaigns beyond the borders, erecting monuments or statues to the consecration of deities, evinced by a panel recording official acts of the royal court during this time. In the ruins of the Temple of Ptah, a block in the name of
Senusret II bears an inscription indicating an architectural commission as a gift to the deities of Memphis. Moreover, many statues found at the site, later restored by the New Kingdom kings, are attributed to kings of the
Twelfth Dynasty. Examples include the two stone giants that have been recovered amidst the temple ruins, which were later restored under the name of Ramesses II. Finally, according to the tradition recorded by Herodotus, and
Diodorus,
Amenemhat III built the northern gate of the Temple of Ptah. Remains attributed to this king were indeed found during the excavations in this area conducted by
Flinders Petrie, who confirmed the connection. It is also worth noting that, during this time,
mastabas of the high priests of Ptah were constructed near the royal pyramids at Saqqara, showing that the royalty and the clergy of Memphis at that time were closely linked. The
Thirteenth Dynasty continued this trend, and some kings of this line were buried at Saqqara, attesting that Memphis retained its place at the heart of the monarchy. With the invasion of the
Hyksos and their rise to power ca. 1650 BC, the city of Memphis came under siege. Following its capture, many monuments and statues of the ancient capital were dismantled, looted, or damaged by the Hyksos kings, who later carried them off to adorn their new capital at
Avaris. Evidence of royal propaganda has been uncovered and attributed to the Theban kings of the
Seventeenth Dynasty, who initiated the reconquest of the kingdom half a century later.
New Kingdom The
Eighteenth Dynasty thus opened with the victory over the invaders by the Thebans. Some Eighteenth Dynasty kings, particularly
Amenhotep II (r. 1427–1401/1397 BC) and
Thutmose IV (r. 1401/1397–1391/1388 BC) gave considerable royal focus to Memphis, but for the most part, power remained in the south. With the long period of peace that followed, prosperity again took hold of the city, which benefited from her strategic position. Strengthening trade ties with other empires made the nearby port of
Peru-nefer (literally, "Good Travels" or "
Bon Voyage") the gateway to the kingdom for neighbouring regions, including
Byblos and the
Levant. In the New Kingdom, Memphis became a centre for the education of royal princes and the sons of the nobility. Amenhotep II, born and raised in Memphis, was made the
setem—the high priest over Lower Egypt—during the reign of his father. His son, Thutmose IV received his famed and recorded
dream whilst residing as a young prince in Memphis. During his exploration of the site,
Karl Richard Lepsius identified a series of blocks and broken colonnades in the name of Thutmose IV to the east of the Temple of Ptah. They had to belong to a royal building, most likely a ceremonial palace. The founding of the temple of
Astarte (Mespotamian or Assyrian goddess of fertility and war; Babylonian = Ishtar), which Herodotus syncretically understands is dedicated to the Greek goddess
Aphrodite, also may be dated to the Eighteenth Dynasty, specifically the reign of
Amenhotep III (r. 1388/86–1351/1349 BC). The greatest work of this king in Memphis, however, was a temple called "Nebmaatra united with Ptah", which is cited by many sources from the period of his reign, including artefacts listing the works of
Huy, the High Steward of Memphis. The location of this temple has not been precisely determined, but a number of its brown quartzite blocks were found to have been reused by Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC) for the construction of the small temple of Ptah. This leads some Egyptologists to suggest that the latter temple had been built over the site of the first. According to inscriptions found in Memphis,
Akhenaten (r. 1353/51–1336/34 BC; formerly Amenhotep IV) founded a temple of
Aten in the city. The burial chamber of one of the priests of this cult has been uncovered at Saqqara. His successor
Tutankhamun (r. 1332–1323 BC; formerly Tutankhaten) relocated the royal court from Akhenaten's capital
Akhetaten ("Horizon of the Aten") to Memphis before the end of the second year of his reign. Whilst in Memphis, Tutankhamun initiated a period of restoration of the temples and traditions following the era of
Atenism, which became regarded as
heresy. The tombs of important officials from his reign, such as
Horemheb and
Maya, are situated in Saqqara, although Horemheb was buried in the
Valley of the Kings after reigning as king himself (r. 1319–1292 BC). He had been commander of the army under Tutankhamun and
Ay. Maya was overseer of the treasury during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb. Ay had been Tutankhamun's chief minister, and succeeded him as king (r. 1323–1319 BC). To consolidate his power he married Tutankhamun's widow
Ankhesenamun, the third of the six daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Her fate is unknown. Similarly, Horemheb consolidated power when he married Nefertiti's sister Mutnodjemet. There is evidence that, under
Ramesses II, the city developed new importance in the political sphere through its proximity to the new capital
Pi-Ramesses. The king devoted many monuments in Memphis and adorned them with colossal symbols of glory.
Merneptah (r. 1213–1203 BC), his successor, constructed a palace and developed the southeast wall of the temple of Ptah. For the early part of the
19th Dynasty, Memphis received the privileges of royal attention, and it is this dynasty that is most evident among the ruins of the city today. , Shoshenq With the
Twenty-first and
Twenty-second Dynasties, there is a continuation of the religious development initiated by Ramesses. Memphis does not seem to have suffered a decline during the
Third Intermediate Period, which saw great changes in the geopolitics of the country. Instead it is likely that the kings worked to develop the Memphite cult in their new capital of
Tanis, to the northeast. In light of some remains found at the site, it is known that a temple of Ptah was based there.
Siamun is cited as having built a temple dedicated to
Amun, the remains of which were found by Flinders Petrie in the early twentieth century, in the south of the temple of Ptah complex. According to inscriptions describing his architectural work,
Sheshonk I (r. 943–922 BC), founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty, constructed a forecourt and pylon of the temple of Ptah, a monument that he named the "Castle of Millions of Years of Sheshonk, Beloved of Amun". The funerary cult surrounding this monument, well known in the New Kingdom, was still functioning several generations after its establishment at the temple, leading some scholars to suggest that it may have contained the royal burial chamber of the king. Sheshonk also ordered the building of a new shrine for the god
Apis, especially devoted to funeral ceremonies in which the bull was led to his death before being ritually
mummified. A necropolis for the high priests of Memphis dating precisely from the Twenty-second Dynasty has been found west of the forum. It included a chapel dedicated to Ptah by a prince
Shoshenq, son of
Osorkon II (r. 872–837 BC), whose tomb was found in Saqqara in 1939 by
Pierre Montet. The chapel is currently visible in the gardens of the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo, behind a trio of colossi of Ramesses II, which are also from Memphis.
Late Period During the Third Intermediate Period and the
Late Period, Memphis is often the scene of liberation struggles of the local dynasties against an occupying force, such as the
Kushites, Assyrians, and Persians. The triumphant campaign of
Piankhi, ruler of the Kushites, saw the establishment of the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty, whose seat of power was in
Napata. Piankhi's conquest of Egypt was recorded on the
Victory Stele at the Temple of Amun in
Gebel Barkal. Following the capture of Memphis, he restored the temples and cults neglected during the
reign of the Libyans. His successors are known for building chapels in the southwest corner of the temple of Ptah. Memphis was at the heart of the turmoil produced by the great
Assyrian threat. Under
Taharqa, the city formed the frontier base of the resistance, which soon crumbled as the Kushite king was driven back into
Nubia. The Assyrian king
Esarhaddon, supported by some of the native Egyptian princes, captured Memphis in 671 BC. His forces sacked and raided the city, slaughtered villagers, and erected piles of their heads. Esarhaddon returned to his capital
Nineveh with rich booty, and erected a
victory stele showing the son of Taharqa in chains. Almost as soon as the king left, Egypt rebelled against Assyrian rule. In Assyria,
Ashurbanipal succeeded his father and resumed the offensive against Egypt. In a massive invasion in 664 BC, the city of Memphis was again sacked and looted, and the king
Tantamani was pursued into Nubia and defeated, putting a definitive end to the Kushite reign over Egypt. Power then returned to the
Saite kings, who, fearful of an invasion from the
Babylonians, reconstructed and even fortified structures in the city, as is attested by the palace built by
Apries at Kom Tuman. Egypt and Memphis were taken for
Persia by king
Cambyses in 525 BC after the
Battle of Pelusium. Under the
Persians, structures in the city were preserved and strengthened, and Memphis was made the administrative headquarters of the newly conquered
satrapy. A Persian garrison was permanently installed within the city, probably in the great north wall, near the domineering palace of Apries. The excavations by Flinders Petrie revealed that this sector included armouries. For almost a century and a half, the city remained the capital of the Persian satrapy of Egypt ("Mudraya"/"Musraya"), officially becoming one of the epicentres of commerce in the vast territory conquered by the Achaemenid monarchy. The stelae dedicated to
Apis in the
Serapeum at Saqqara, commissioned by the reigning monarch, represent a key element in understanding the events of this period. As in the Late Period, the catacombs in which the remains of the sacred bulls were buried gradually grew in size, and later took on a monumental appearance that confirms the growth of the cult's hypostases throughout the country, and particularly in Memphis and its necropolis. Thus, a monument dedicated by
Cambyses II seems to refute the testimony of Herodotus, who lends the conquerors a criminal attitude of disrespect against the sacred traditions. The nationalist awakening came with the rise to power, however briefly, of
Amyrtaeus in 404 BC, who ended the Persian occupation. He was defeated and executed at Memphis in October 399 BC by
Nepherites I, founder of the
Twenty-ninth Dynasty. The execution was recorded in an Aramaic papyrus document (Papyrus Brooklyn 13). Nepherites moved the capital to
Mendes, in the eastern delta, and Memphis lost its status in the political sphere. It retained, however, its religious, commercial, and strategic importance, and was instrumental in resisting Persian attempts to reconquer Egypt. Under
Nectanebo I, a major rebuilding program was initiated for temples across the country. In Memphis, a powerful new wall was rebuilt for the Temple of Ptah, and developments were made to temples and chapels inside the complex.
Nectanebo II meanwhile, while continuing the work of his predecessor, began building large sanctuaries, especially in the necropolis of Saqqara, adorning them with pylons, statues, and paved roads lined with rows of sphinxes. Despite his efforts to prevent the recovery of the country by the Persians, he succumbed to an invasion in 340 BC. Nectanebo II retreated south to Memphis, to which the Achaemenid king
Artaxerxes III laid siege, forcing the king to flee to Upper Egypt, and eventually to Nubia. A brief liberation of the city under the rebel-king
Khababash (338 to 335 BC) is evinced by an Apis bull sarcophagus bearing his name, which was discovered at Saqqara dating from his second year. The armies of
Darius III eventually regained control of the city. Memphis under the Late Period saw recurring invasions followed by successive liberations. Several times besieged, it was the scene of several of the bloodiest battles in the history of the country. Despite the support of their Greek allies in undermining the hegemony of the Achaemenids, the country nevertheless fell into the hands of the conquerors, and Memphis was never again to become the nation's capital. In 332 BC came the Greeks, who took control of the country from the Persians, and Egypt would never see a new native ruler ascend the throne until the
Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
Ptolemaic Period (1898–1899) In 332 BC,
Alexander the Great was crowned king in the Temple of Ptah, ushering in the
Hellenistic period. The city retained a significant status, especially religious, throughout the period following the takeover by one of his generals,
Ptolemy I. On the death of Alexander in Babylon (323 BCE), Ptolemy took great pains in acquiring his body and bringing it to Memphis. Claiming that the king had officially expressed a desire to be buried in Egypt, he then carried the body of Alexander to the heart of the temple of Ptah, and had him embalmed by the priests. By custom, kings in
Macedon asserted their right to the throne by burying their predecessor.
Ptolemy II later transferred the
sarcophagus to Alexandria, where a royal tomb was constructed for its burial. The exact location of the tomb has been lost since then. According to
Aelian, the seer
Aristander foretold that the land where Alexander was laid to rest "would be happy and unvanquishable forever". Thus began the
Ptolemaic dynasty, during which began the city's gradual decline. It was Ptolemy I who first introduced the cult of
Serapis in Egypt, establishing his cult in Saqqara. From this period date many developments of the Saqqara Serapeum, including the building of the Chamber of Poets, as well as the
dromos adorning the temple, and many elements of Greek-inspired architecture. The cult's reputation extended beyond the borders of the country, but was later eclipsed by the great
Alexandrian Serapeum, built in Ptolemy's honour by his successors. The
Decrees of Memphis were issued in 216 and 196 BC, by
Ptolemy IV and
Ptolemy V respectively. Delegates from the principal clergies of the kingdom gathered in
synod, under the patronage of the High Priest of Ptah and in the presence of the king, to establish the religious policy of the country for years to come, also dictating fees and taxes, creating new foundations, and paying tribute to the Ptolemaic rulers. These decrees were engraved on
stelae in three scripts to be read and understood by all:
Demotic,
hieroglyphic, and
Greek. The most famous of these stelae is the
Rosetta Stone, which allowed the deciphering of ancient Egyptian script in the nineteenth century. There were other stelae, funerary this time, discovered on the site that have forwarded knowledge of the genealogy of the higher clergy of Memphis, a dynasty of high priests of Ptah. The lineage retained strong ties with the royal family in Alexandria, to the extent that marriages occurred between certain high priests and Ptolemaic princesses, strengthening even further the commitment between the two families.
Decline and abandonment With the arrival of the
Romans, Memphis, like Thebes, lost its place permanently in favour of
Alexandria, which opened onto the empire. The rise of the cult of
Serapis, a syncretic deity most suited to the mentality of the new rulers of Egypt, and the emergence of
Christianity taking root deep into the country, spelled the complete ruin of the ancient cults of Memphis. During the
Byzantine and
Coptic periods the city gradually dwindled and finally dropped out of existence. It then became a quarry from which its stones were used to build new settlements nearby, including
Fustat, the new capital founded by the
Arabs who
took possession in the seventh century AD. The foundations of Fustat and later
Cairo, both built farther north, were laid with stones of dismantled temples and ancient necropoleis of Memphis. In the thirteenth century, the Arab chronicler
Abd-ul-Latif, upon visiting the site, described and gave testimony to the grandeur of the ruins. Enormous as are the extent and antiquity of this city, in spite of the frequent change of governments whose yoke it has borne, and the great pains more than one nation has been at to destroy it, to sweep its last trace from the face of the earth, to carry away the stones and materials of which it was constructed, to mutilate the statues which adorned it; in spite, finally, of all that more than four thousand years have done in addition to man, these ruins still offer to the eye of the beholder a mass of marvels which bewilder the senses and which the most skillful pens must fail to describe. The more deeply we contemplate this city the more our admiration rises, and every fresh glance at the ruins is a fresh source of delight ... The ruins of Memphis hold a half-
day's journey in every direction. Although the remains today are nothing compared to what was witnessed by the Arab historian, his testimony has inspired the work of many archaeologists. The first surveys and excavations of the nineteenth century, and the extensive work of
Flinders Petrie, have been able to show a little of the former glory of the ancient capital. Memphis and its necropolis, which include funerary rock tombs, mastabas, temples, and pyramids, were inscribed on the
World Heritage List of UNESCO in 1979. ==Remains==