Memphis (ancient world)
Memphis, an ancient city located in Lower Egypt near the Nile, was established as the first capital of a unified Egypt around 3000 BC by King Menes, who named it Mennofer, meaning "the White Wall." This city played a crucial role in early Egyptian civilization and served as a significant religious center, particularly known for the worship of the god Ptah. Over the centuries, Memphis became intertwined with Greek culture and mythology; it was said to be the home of Proteus and was admired by great thinkers like Plato and Democritus, who were believed to have studied there under the high priests of Ptah.
Memphis continued to retain its importance even after the Ptolemaic dynasty shifted the political capital to Alexandria. The city remained a vital religious hub, where royal coronations were celebrated in the temple of Ptah-Hephaestus. The Serapeum, a notable site within Memphis, housed the sarcophagi of sacred bulls dedicated to the god Apis, reflecting the city’s unique blend of Egyptian and later Hellenistic influences. By the time of the Roman annexation, Memphis was described as a culturally diverse city, still home to significant temples and monuments, although its prominence declined over the following centuries. Today, Memphis is recognized for its rich historical legacy and archaeological significance, offering insight into ancient Egyptian civilization and its interactions with other cultures.
Memphis (ancient world)
(Mit Riheina)
A city in Lower Egypt on the Nile, twenty miles south of the modern Cairo; the first capital of the united territories of Lower and Upper Egypt, where Mena or Menes (c 3000 BC) founded a fortress named Mennofer (the White Wall). In Greek mythology Memphis was the home of Proteus, who, according to the Helen of Euripides, removed Helen (with her treasure) from Troy and kept her safe until Menelaus finally came to claim her. The historian Herodotus, giving details of the city and its monarchs, mentions a shrine of Aphrodite the Refugee (that is to say, Helen) within the court of Proteus' palace. The Greeks regarded Memphis as the central repository of Egyptian wisdom, vested in the high priests of Ptah, under whose guidance leading Greek thinkers including Eudoxus of Cnidus, Democritus of Abdera, and Plato were believed to have studied.
In 332, when Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt and returned from the oasis of Ammon (Siwa), he was crowned Pharaoh at Memphis in the temple of Hephaestus (with whom Ptah was identified), and after his death in 323 his embalmed body was kept at the city by Ptolemy I Soter until his tomb at Alexandria was ready to receive it. Ptolemy I moved his political capital to Alexandria but Memphis remained the principal religious center. The Ptolemaic god Serapis (Sarapis), who was derived from the sacred bull Apis worshipped at Memphis and identified after its death with the god Osiris (as Osor-Hapi), rivalled the preeminence of Ptah; yet it was at the temple of Ptah-Hephaestus that the Ptolemies celebrated their coronations, at least until c 171.
When Strabo visited Memphis after the Roman annexation of Egypt (31), he described it as a city of mixed race, second only to Alexandria in size. At that time visitors were still shown the Hephaestieum, as well as temples of Aphrodite-Astarte (Selene?) and Apis; the bullfights in Apis' honor were abolished by Theodosius I in AD 389. During this last period of antiquity Memphis was the capital of the province of Arcadia (earlier Aegyptus Herculia) within the administrative diocese of Egypt (comprising Egypt and Libya).
The Serapeum is to be seen just to the north of an early Step Pyramid. Ranged along the underground passages of the shrine were the sarcophagi of twenty-four bulls, each in a separate chamber. The approach to the building was lined by a long row of sphinxes, and an adjoining exedra (semicircular recess) displayed statues of ten Greek poets and philosophers arranged by Ptolemy I around a figure of Homer.