MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS (from the Greek Menophreos which in turn was derived from the late Old Kingdom Egyptian Mn-nfr,   meaning "established and beautiful"), ancient city in Lower Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, approximately 12 mi. (c. 19 km.) south of Cairo, lying partly under the site of the modern village Mit Riheina. According to tradition, Memphis was founded by the legendary Egyptian king Menes (probably the same as King Aha) in about 3100 B.C.E. The Egyptian name Mn-nfr originally designated the pyramid of King Pepi I (c. 2300 B.C.E.) at Saqqara, and was eventually extended to include also the town that grew up around it. By the end of the second millennium the name was probably vocalized "Menufi," although a papyrus from the late 20th Dynasty (c. 1184–1087 B.C.E.), gives the variant reading Mnf, from which the Coptic Menfi, Arabic Menf, and Hebrew Mof were derived. Until the founding of Alexandria, Memphis played a paramount role in Egypt. As the administrative capital of the Old Kingdom, it had many palaces and temples, particularly that of Ptah, the city's creator god (with the Apis bull sacred to Ptah being venerated at Memphis); the remains of these structures can still be seen on the site. Literary texts, lavish in their praise and descriptions of the city, indicate that it was a cosmopolitan metropolis with a large, resident foreign population which included Jews (cf. Jer. 44:1); this has been confirmed by archaeological excavation. Foreign divinities worshiped at Memphis include Resheph, Baal, Astarte, and Qudshu. The eventual destruction of Memphis is predicted in Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; 46:14, 19; and Ezekiel 30:13. The city was not in fact destroyed, although it was besieged and taken by the Persians. Memphis was also the place where it was said Antiochus IV Epiphanes received the crown of Egypt. Archaeological excavations have brought to light the large Ptah temple, the palace of Apries, another large ceremonial palace, shrines of Seti I and Rameses II, an embalming house of the Apis bulls, tombs of the high priests, and various settlement remains. A project to record the scattered remains of Memphis through excavation and survey has been undertaken by D. Jeffreys and H.S. Smith for the Egypt Exploration Society since 1982. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: W.F. Petrie, Memphis, 1 (1909); idem, The Palace of Apries (1909); idem, Meydum and Memphis (1910), 38–46; W.F. Petrie et al., Tarkhan I and Memphis V (1913); A.H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, 2 (1947), 122–6. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Kamil, "Ancient Memphis: Archaeologists Revive Interest in a Famous Egyptian Site," in: Archaeology, 38:4 (1985), 25–32. (Alan Richard Schulman / Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)