Memphis, was the ancient capital of the first nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 1300 BC. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Ineb Hedj ("The White Walls"). The name "Memphis" is the Greek deformation of the Egyptian name of Pepi I's (VIth dynasty) pyramid, Men-nefer. The modern city of Mit-Rahineh, south of Cairo. The ruins are 19 km (12 miles) south of Cairo on the West Bank of the Nile.

The city was founded around 3100 BC by Menes of Tanis, who united the two kingdoms of Egypt; with some 30,000 inhabitants, it was by far the largest settlement worldwide at the time. Memphis reached a peak of prestige under the 6th Dynasty as a centre of the cult of Ptah. It declined briefly after the 18th Dynasty with the rise of Thebes and was revived under the Persian satraps before falling into firm second place following the foundation of Alexandria. Under the Roman Empire, Alexandria remained the most important city. It remained the second city of Egypt until the establishment of Al Fustat (or Fostat) in 641. Memphis was then largely abandoned and became a source of stone for the surrounding settlements. It was still an imposing set of ruins in the 12th century but soon became little more than an expanse of low ruins and scattered stone.

The remains of the temple of Ptah and of Apis have been uncovered at the site as well as a few statues, including two four metre ones in alabaster of Ramesses II. The Saqqara necropolis is close to Memphis.

It is believed by Tertius Chandler that Memphis was the largest city in the world from its foundation until around 2250 BC and from 1557 to 1400 BC. Its population was over 30,000.

The Greek historian Manetho referred to Memphis as Hi-Ku-P'tah ("Place of Ptah"), which he wrote in Greek as A? ?? ??o? (Ai-gu-ptos), giving us the Latin AEGYPTVS and the modern English Egypt.

In the Bible Memphis is called Moph or Noph.

Memphis,The most ancient political and religiouse capital of Egypt is ruined up.In order to revive Memphis,The Egyptian government has opened an open museum in the site that collects some of the masterpieces of the ancient Egyptian civilisation including

The Colossus of Ramesses is an enormous statue carved in limestone. It is about 10m (33.8 ft) long, even though it has no feet, and is located near the village of Mit Rahina. A small museum has been built to house this magnificent piece. The fallen colossus was found near the south gate of the temple of Ptah, located about 30m from the huge limestone statue of Ramesses. Some of the original colors are still partly preserved.

This piece was found in 1820 by an Italian traveler Giovanni Caviglia. Mohammad Ali donated the statue to the British Museum, but the task of moving the piece prevented the British from taking it to England. It is located in the archaeological zone of Memphis in the museum built to protect it.

The colossus is an incredible piece of work. Ramesses is portrayed in the prone position, but the piece is unfinished. How the piece was made often eludes most guests who visit the statue. One sculptor, Stuart M. Edelson, has worked with stone for over 20 years. He has made the following comment that helps detail what had to be done to make such a sculpture:

"Anyone who has never carved stone might marvel most the quarrying of the many-ton block, and then at the task of roughly hewing it into shape, tasks which must have been gargantuan. Of course, this impressed me, but the drudgery of rough carving spoke to me of an effort that could have been achieved by any gang of workers sufficiently numerous, supervised, and driven. Persistence on this grand scale is not uncommon. The distinction of the Ramesses colossus lay elsewhere.

The essence of this great statue lies in the many square yards of carved surface. Faced with a task of such magnitude, a cold sweat would form on the brow of any modern worker in stone. I scrutinized a ten-foot-long portion of the royal leg. Along its entire length no flaw distracted from the grace and power of the sinewy, kingly stride, and I knew something of the difficulty with which such perfect surfaces could only be achieved.

Among the many problems presented by this stone, it likes to chip unpredictably to the terror of the sculptor who would shape it. The stone was familiar to me. I had worked on a small piece of similar but softer material the year before, and the twenty years' experience that went into my small sculpture provided an insight into the true greatness of the colossus before me.

I had spent countless hours vainly trying to grind out by machine the countless ripples that had formed in the carving process - on a much smaller expanse of softer stone. Only after much experimentation with various abrasives and finally with different rhythms of sanding was I able to produce the smooth surfaces essential to the overall impact of the work. Even on the small scale the effort involved was enormous.

When modern, mechanized marble yards cut, smooth and polish stone the size of the Ramesses, the shapes are either flat or they are featureless columns. It is done with power tools the size of houses and even then the work is painstaking, time-consuming and risky. Here, the ancients achieved perfection with hand-held stones and crushed abrasives applied to sticks. And the shapes wrought were the complex, subtle forms of the human anatomy.

How these master carvers achieved perfect surfaces on this scale with simple tools was beyond my comprehension. My own twenty years' experience provided no clue. But clearly this was not the work of slaves. This forty-foot length of stone could only have been brought to life through the sensitive hand and watchful eye of a master sculptor, and with a great deal of loving care.

Unlike so many works on a herculean scale, this Ramesses allowed for no imprecision in areas the sculptors knew could not be seen. The hidden places were equally finely finished. There were no technical concessions to the many near-insuperable problems that had to be faced. Looking at the supreme craftsmanship that went into the body's hidden recesses as well as its conspicuous visible areas, it was clear to me that all involved in making this image had the integrity and wisdom worthy of the god the great king was meant to represent.

Near the remains of Memphis stands the Alabaster Sphinx. The Alabaster Sphinx was carved in honor of an unknown Pharaoh most likely during the eighteenth dynasty, between 1700 and 1400 BC. Although there was not an inscription, the facial features suggest that it was in honor of Hatshepsut or Amenhotep II or Amenhotep III. Amenhotep III is thought to be the builder of the Luxor Temple.

The Alabaster Sphinx is 8m (26 ft) long and 4m (13 ft) tall and weighs around 90 tons. It has corroded over the centuries, but remains very impressive. This monument may have stood outside of the Temple of Ptah along with the Colossus of Ramses II. The Alabaster Sphinx spent many years lying on its side in water. This was responsible for the damage to the surface of the monument. The sphinx is sometimes referred to as the Calcite Sphinx. Calcite is an opaque white stone that is often times called alabaster. The Alabaster was quarried at a place east of 'Amarna called Hatnub. Calcite was also believed to have, in a mythical sense, solar connections. It was not often used as a building material.

The type of figure known as a sphinx is created with the body of a lion and the head of royalty. The lion is in a crouching position with its paws outstretched. The human head is adorned with the covering reserved for kings of that particular period.

Memphis    

The Step Pyramid   

The Pyramid of Chephren