Memphis.

Memphis. a celebrated Egyptian city, situated at the apex of the Delta, or Lower Egypt, the ancient capital of the country, called by the Egyptians Men nefer, or 'the Good Station,' by the Hebrews Moph, and by the Arabs Memf. It was founded by Menes, the first monarch of the 1st dynasty, who, according to Herodotus, changed the bed of the Nile, and made an embankment 100 stadia above Memphis to protect the new city against inundations, the remains of which still exist about 14 miles above Mitrahenny, the centre of old Memphis, and the site of the temple of Ptah. Menes fortified the city, and laid the foundations of the temple. The site was well chosen; protected alike by the Libyan and Arabian chains of mountains against the river and the incursions of the sand, defending the approach of the country from the incursions of Asiatic nomads, and communicating with the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. The city, which at one time had a circumference of 150 stadia, was composed of two portions—one built of crude bricks, the other, on which was the citadel, of calcareous stone. The palace, built by Menes, was enlarged by his son Athothis, and was always inhabited either by a monarch or by his viceroy. After the 6th dynasty the city declined in importance, and was apparently held by the Hyksos after the 13th and before the 18th (1500 B.C.). At this period Memphis was ruled by a viceroy, a prince of the blood, and still remained a religious capital. It rose again to great importance under the Saïte monarchs, about 600 B.C., who restored it; and it was conquered by Senacherib. Its temples were magnificent, and comprised the Iseum, a large temple of Isis, completed by Amasis II. just prior to Cambyses (525 B.C.); a temple dedicated to Proteus, in the foreign quarter; the temple of the Apis, having a peristyle and court ornamented with figures, opposite the south propylæum of the temple of Ptah, where the sacred bull resided; the Serapeum, or temple of Serapis, discovered by M. Mariette; the Nilometer; a temple of Ra; and the shrine of the Cabiri. Here were the statues of Rameses II., one of which is known as 'the fallen colossus,' at Mitrahenny. Still more remarkable was the great necropolis of the city, in the centre of which towered the pyramids (see PYRAMIDS). During the attempts of the native rulers to throw off the Persian rule, Memphis was an important strategic point. Ochus inflicted severe injury on this town, having plundered the temples and thrown down the walls after he had driven out Nectanebes. Alexander the Great here worshipped the Apis, and his corpse was brought to this city by Ptolemy before it was finally transferred to Alexandria. The first Ptolemies were crowned in the Serapeum. Ptolemy VIII. destroyed the city, and it fell with the rest of Egypt under the Roman rule, and afterwards was conquered by 'Amr ibn el-Asi (640 A.D.). Its ruins, which served as quarries for later buildings, were large and important in the 13th century, when they were seen by Abd-ul-Latif; but little is now to be seen beyond deeply-buried walls. See works cited at EGYPT.