Memphis 1

Standing near present day Cairo, the ancient city of Memphis was the first capital of Egypt during the era of the Old Kingdom and most of the Pharaonic period. There are conflicting reports about who founded the city, officially, but the most popular version says that King Menes built the city during his rein in 3100 BC. King Menes, responsible for unifying Upper and Lower Egypt, chose this particular location in order to best control overland and river routes heading out in all possible directions, making it, as 5th century historian, Herodotus, describes as a "prosperous city and cosmopolitan centre."

Memphis is best visited from Sakkara, which was once at the city's center. Today the city is in ruins, almost completely vanished from history. Just traveling to where its strong walls once stood reminds us of the toils the city's population had to endure. Foreign invaders, from the Romans onwards, ravaged the city in attempt to overthrow it. The pillaging combined with the Nile's frequent floods, buried the torn town under mud and debris. Today, little of a semblance of the city is visible. It is buried under luscious palm groves and cultivated fields. All was not lost, however. Remnants of Memphis and some of its many artifacts can be seen in an open-air museum in the neighboring village of Mit Rahina. The most significant of pieces here is the limestone statue of Ramses II and the 80 ton sphinx of the 18th Dynasty.

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.