Memphis was the ancient Capital of the First Nome of Lower Egypt. Now its ruins are located near the town of Mit Rahina, 20 km to the south from Cairo.

According to the legend, recorded by the Egyptian historian Manetho, the city was founded by the Pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. The legend says that Menes was the first Pharaoh, who has united the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt). He also established his Capital on the banks of the Nile River by diverting its waters with dikes.

Being the Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an important city throughout ancient Mediterranean history.

Manetho referred to Memphis as Hut-ka-Ptah, what means " The Enclosure of the Ka of Ptah", which in Greek language sounds as Aί γυ πτoς (Ai-gy-ptos), from which derives the Latin AEGYPTVS and the modern English name of Egypt.

Memphis was the Capital of Ancient Egypt for over eight dynasties during the Old Kingdom.

Memphis declined briefly after the 18th dynasty with the rise of Thebes and the New Kingdom, and was revived under the Persians before falling firmly into second place following the foundation of Alexandria. Under the Roman Empire, Alexandria remained the most important Egyptian city. Gradually, the city "disappeared" during the Byzantine and Coptic periods, turning into a quarry for building new nearby settlements.

In 1652, Jean de Thévenot, during his trip to Egypt, identified the location of the site and its ruins. The starting point of archaeological exploration in Memphis was made by the expedition of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1798. The results of the first scientific studies were published in his monumental work "Descr. de l’Egypte II, ch. XVIII".

The first excavations of the site were made by Caviglia and Sloane in 1820. They discovered the great colossus of Rameses II. Jean-François Champollion, in his trip to Egypt 1828-1830 through Memphis, described the giant discovered by Caviglia and Sloane, made a few digs at the site and decrypted many of the epigraphic remains. Karl Richard Lepsius, during the Prussian expedition of 1842, made a quick survey of the ruins and created a first detailed map that would serve as the basis for all future explorations and excavations.From 1852 to 1854, Joseph Hekekyan, then working for the Egyptian government, conducted geological surveys on the site, and on these occasions made a number of discoveries. Auguste Mariette, who has established the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation (EAO) in 1859, has organised excavations at Memphis which revealed the first evidence of the great temple of Ptah, and uncovered the royal statues of the Old Kingdom. The major excavations of the British Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, conducted from 1907 to 1912, uncovered the majority of the ruins as seen today.

Our research group has visited this place for the first time.
Below are the pictures, we made to acquaint our readers with the main archeological treasures of Memphis - the ancient Capital of Egypt.

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