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Memphis |
| The
ancient city of Memphis was the capital of
Egypt during the Old Kingdom and most of
the Pharaonic period. It is thought it was
founded in about
3100 BC by king
Menes, the ruler responsible for
uniting Upper and Lower Egypt. Situated at the head of
the Nile Delta, this
majestic city controlled
important overland and
river routes . While
Thebes ( the sight
of modern-day Luxor
) became the ceremonial
centre of Egypt during
the New Kingdom
, Memphis was still
an important administrative
and commercial
centre until well
into the Ptolemaic era. |
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There
are countless descriptions of
the city in
Classical texts from Greek writers and
historians such as Plutarch and Strabo. In
the 5th century AD ,
the historian Hirodotus
described Memphis as a "prosperous city
and cosmopolitan centre". The extent
and grandeur of
the city's necropolis
, centered on Sakkara, give
some indication of how
large and prosperous Memphis
must once
have been. Sadly, there's a little remaining
evidence of the former
glory. The city has almost completely vanished. |
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Its
magnificent temples and palaces were
torn down and pillaged by foreign invaders
from
the Roman onwards, and the ruins were then
buried under the alluvial mud deposited by
the annual flooding of the Nile. Palm
groves, cultivated fields and
villages now cover
the site of
this once impressive city
. What little has
been discovered at Memphis
is gathered together
in a small
open-air Museum in
the village of Mit
Rahina. The showpiece is a
colossal limestone statue
of Ramses II found
in
Memphis and replicated in Midan Ramses. In
the garden there are more statues of Ramses
II and an 18th Dynasty sphinx, at 80 tons the largest calcite statue ever found. The
garden also contains several
calcite slabs on which
the sacred Apis bulls were
mummified before being buried in nearby
Saqqara. |
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