Memphis was the first capital of united Egypt. Tradition says King Menes founded it around 3100 BC where the Nile valley meets the delta, about 20 km south of modern Cairo, and it stayed one of the great cities of the ancient world for some 3,000 years. Its cemeteries were Saqqara and the Giza Pyramids.
What is left
Little survives of the city itself, which was built mostly of mud brick. Its stone temples were taken apart for building material in the Middle Ages, and much of it lies under palm groves and the village of Mit Rahina. The open-air museum here shows what was found: a giant limestone statue of Ramses II, about 10 meters long, lying on its back in its own pavilion, and an alabaster sphinx weighing about 80 tons, among many smaller statues and stelae.
The city of Ptah
Memphis was the home of Ptah, the creator god of craftsmen. Its name in Egyptian, Hut-ka-Ptah, “the house of the soul of Ptah”, became Aigyptos in Greek, the origin of the word Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian CitiesVisiting
The museum is small and a visit takes 30 to 45 minutes. It fits easily into a day with Saqqara and Giza on our Cairo day tours.
