Travel Guide Memphis

The first capital of unified Egypt, the city of Memphis was created by Menes, king of theFirst Dynasty (3100-2900), although the exact date of the event is not known. The Nile flood was particularly visible at Memphis. The choice of this location for the development of a city was undoubtedly not unrelated: the river's cycle is a theological element that determines certain political decisions. Memphis is both the name of a city to which all the pyramids are linked, as the burial sites of the city's rulers, and the name of a group of dynasties known as Memphites.Memphis, which means "the white wall", became the capital of the1st nome of Lower Egypt in the administration of the country. The royal palace was probably built by Djer a few decades after the city's foundation. Not all the sovereigns of the1st and 2nd dynasties were buried here: some kings preferred Abydos, near their home town of This in Upper Egypt, others Saqqarah. It was with the 3rd Dynasty (2700-2620), and the emblematic figure of Pharaoh Djoser, for whom Imhotep built the Saqqarah Step Pyramid, and of Houni, who was buried at Meidoun, that the 4th Dynasty (2620-2500), with its pharaohs Snufru, Cheops, Khéphren and Mykérinos, Memphis developed and became the kingdom's capital. At this time, the cult of the god Ptah as architect of the world's creation was the one celebrated in Memphis. However, Heliopolis, the tutelary city of the 13th nome of Lower Egypt, worshipped Ra. During theFifth Dynasty (2500-2350), Ra won out and became the kingdom's preferred cult, absorbing Ptah into its cosmogony. TheFifth Dynasty ended with the reign of Uunas, whose tomb is found at Saqqara. The pharaohs of the 6th dynasty (2350-2200), including Teti and PepiI, continued to build their tombs here. Memphis remained the kingdom's capital throughout the Old Kingdom. Although the Ptolemies chose Alexandria, they continued to worship there.It was during the Byzantine and Coptic periods, and later with the Ayyubid constructions, that the monuments of Memphis served as a career for the architects of these eras. Underground water also caused considerable damage to what remained of the monuments. Today, few vestiges remain of this city, which was a major centre for almost 1,000 years.