Memphis (Egypt)
| Memphis and its necropolis - the pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur | |
|---|---|
UNESCO world heritage 
|
|
|
|
| Ruins of the Ptah Temple |
|
| National territory: |
 Egypt
|
| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | (ii) (iii) (vi) |
| Surface: | 16,359 ha |
| Reference No .: | 86 |
| UNESCO region : | Arabic states |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1979 ( session 3 ) |
Memphis ( ancient Egyptian Men-nefer , Inbu-hedj , Hut-ka-Ptah ; Biblical Noph , Movh ; Arabic منف, DMG Manf ) was the capital of the first district of Lower Egypt . Its ruins have been part of the Unesco World Heritage since 1979 and are located near the villages of Mit-Rahineh and Helwan about 18 km south of Cairo .
Manetho reports that, according to legend, Memphis was founded by King Menes in 3000 BC. Was founded. It was the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom and remained an important city in Egyptian history. Memphis was under the protection of the god Ptah , the patron saint of craftsmen , whose temple Hut-Ka-Ptah was in the center of the city.
The city occupied a strategic position at the beginning of the Nile Delta and therefore housed many workshops and production facilities, including for weapons. The rise and failure of Memphis are closely tied to the history of the entire country. Due to the rise of Alexandria , Memphis lost its economic role in the country and was gradually abandoned. With the Edict of Thessaloniki its religious significance also ended.
location
 
| ||
Map of Egypt |
The current remains near Mit-Rahina are more recent. Studies carried out in 1982 have shown that the urban layers of the city are not on top of each other, but rather next to each other. The location of Memphis had shifted over the millennia, probably due to changes in the course of the Nile. The river was not regulated in ancient times and could flow back into another bed in the event of high floods .
As drilling in the area has shown, the city of the Old Kingdom was much further north, next to the mastabas of the 1st and 2nd dynasties and the modern town of Abusir . In the first interim period, the urban area shifted further south into the area of the pyramids of the Old Kingdom of Saqqara . In the Middle Kingdom it was then further east, where the few ruins can be seen today. This remained the location of the city until Roman times.
founding
There are no reliable facts about the founding of the city. There is a report from Herodotus who allegedly refers to the priests of the Ptah temple. However, the Egyptologist A. Badawi gives the report a certain credibility.
Accordingly, the city is said to have been founded by Menes . He diverted the Nile and built a dam to protect the drained area on which the city was to be built. The dam also served to protect the Gaus from re-penetration of the water. Menes then built a fortress town and the Ptah temple with a lake fed by the water of the Nile. According to Badawi, this dam was still visible at the beginning of the 20th century near the modern town of Koshescheh and only disappeared with the modernization of the Egyptian irrigation system . What is certain is that at the beginning of the Old Kingdom near Memphis a dam was to be built, which is now known as Sadd-el-Kafara .
According to Manetho , "Athotis" ( Aha or Teti I ) built the royal palace in Memphis.
Names
| Memphis in hieroglyphics | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men-nefer- (Pepi) Mn-nfr- (Pjpj) Abiding (is) the perfection (of Pepi ) |
|||||||||||
Inb (u) -hedj Jnb (w) -ḥḏ White Wall (n) |
|||||||||||
Hut-ka-Ptah Ḥwt-k3-Ptḥ Ka-House of Ptah |
|||||||||||
Mechat-taui Mḫ3.t-t3.wj Libra of the two countries |
|||||||||||
Ankh -taui ˁnḫ-t3.wj life of the two countries |
|||||||||||
| Greek | Memphis (Μέμφις) | ||||||||||
The current name “Memphis” (after the Greek Μέμφις) goes back to the ancient Egyptian word “Men-nefer” and means approximately permanent is perfection . The term was almost certainly derived from the name of the pyramid city of King Pepi I in the south of Saqqara. In its full form, the city was called "Nut men-nefer-Pepi-meri-Ra" ( "Pepi's perfection is permanent, loved by Re " city ). The official name "Men-nefer" does not appear until the inscriptions of the New Kingdom .
Originally the city was called "Inebu-Hedj" ( White Walls ) and has been occupied in this form since the kings Chasechemui ( 2nd dynasty ) and Djoser ( 3rd dynasty ). The singular form "Ineb-Hedj" ( White Wall ), which appears for the first time on the Palermostein of the 5th dynasty and was used by the ancient historians Herodotus and Diodorus in parallel to "Men-nefer", became more common. Herodotus traces the name back to a part of the city whose buildings were made entirely of white limestone . Due to the meaning of the word, however, it is assumed that Memphis was initially built as a fortress city, which was surrounded by a white wall.
At times, Memphis or districts of the city were also named after other pyramid cities. In the Middle Kingdom, the name of the pyramid complex of Teti "Djed-sut-Teti" ( The sites of Teti are eternal ) from the 6th Dynasty was used as a name for the entire city, in the New Kingdom, however, only for a specific district.
The name of the central Ptah temple "Hut-ka-Ptah" ( Temple of the Kas of Ptah ) has been used since the New Kingdom . The metaphor “Mechat taui” ( scales of the two countries ) is also known, as the city was located exactly on the border between Upper Egypt and the northern Nile Delta .
Other names are "Nut-Ptah" ( city of Ptah ) and "Nut-Ta-tenen" ( city of Ta-tenen ) after the two city gods Ptah and Tatenen . The term Ankh-taui ( life of the two countries ) was initially a toponym for the cat goddess Bastet , from the Middle Kingdom also for Ptah and could be used as a name for Memphis or the city's necropolis .
history
Early days
Memphis has played an important role in the country since the unification of the empire , especially in the arts , science , religion and the military . The rulers of the Thinite period , who also had smaller graves in Abydos , established the first royal necropolis in Saqqara-North . It is unclear which graves are real and which are only cenotaphs . According to Barry J. Kemp , the tombs in Memphis belong to high dignitaries from this period and according to Jean-Philippe Lauer , only the last three kings of the 2nd Dynasty were buried in Memphis, which indicates that the city began one at this time to assume a special role as the imperial capital.
The city was considered a religious center very early on. Since the beginning of Egyptian history 3000 BC Typical Memphite cult acts such as the royal ritual "Union of the Two Lands" and the king's cult run around the wall are documented. Likewise, the cult of the city god Ptah and the holy Apis bull goes back to the 1st dynasty.
Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period
From the beginning of the Old Kingdom and until the end of the 6th Dynasty, Memphis rose to become the royal seat and central administrative city of Egypt. The Egyptian Kingdom was administered for the first time by a firm and hierarchically organized central government with a directly to the Pharaoh assumed vizier at the top. All important decisions affecting the country were made in Memphis from the third through the sixth dynasties. In the course of the Old Kingdom, extensive royal and official necropolises were established in the nearby Saqqara, Dahshur , Gizeh and Abu Roasch . The architectural design and artistic decoration with reliefs and grave statues testify to the high standard of Memphite art.
After the fall of the Old Kingdom at the end of the sixth dynasty, Memphis lost its central role as the state capital. In the 7th and 8th dynasties , only powerless and insignificant kings resided in the city, until the princes of Herakleopolis took power in the country from the 10th dynasty .
Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period
Mentuhotep II , who was able to unite the country again in the 11th dynasty , ruled from now on in Thebes . Since the reputation of Memphite art was still very good, he brought artists from Memphis such as B. the sculptor Antefnacht to Upper Egypt. It is thanks to the Memphite artists that Theban art received an enormous boom in the Middle Kingdom. The founder of the following 12th dynasty, Amenemhet I , distinguished himself from his predecessors and continued the Memphite tradition of the pyramid tomb thirty kilometers from Memphis in Lisht . The kings of the twelfth dynasty again worshiped the god Ptah by enlarging and expanding the main temple, setting up rich sacrificial foundations and erecting statues . Amenemhet II set up a memorial stele in the temple of Ptah, which reports on his economic and military activities in the Middle East .
In the crisis-ridden 13th dynasty , two kings were buried in tombs next to the Mastabat al-Firʿaun in Saqqara and tried to reconnect with the traditions of the Old Kingdom. In the ensuing period, the Hyksos invaded Lower Egypt and captured the city of Memphis. Flavius Josephus , who refers to Manetho , reports in his work On the Originality of Judaism about the Hyksos king Salitis :
“He also lived in Memphis and had both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, setting up garrisons in their places, especially to secure the east against the Assyrians , who were then the greatest power. They built a city that was appropriate for this purpose and that was on the Bubastis Canal . For mythological reasons the city was called Auaris . "
In Auaris, the Hykos capital, many statues were found that originate from Memphis and were marked with the name of the Hyksos rulers.
New kingdom
18th dynasty
After the Hyksos were driven out and the New Kingdom was founded, Thebes rose to become the new capital of the empire. Memphis, however, began to regain most of its former military, economic and administrative position. The city served primarily as the headquarters for the army and as a starting point for military expeditions to the Middle East . Ahmose I took the limestone quarries of Tura into operation and ordered embellishments on the Temple of Ptah and the Temple of Amun in Thebes, emphasizing the equality of both deities. He also ensured that the main gods of the religious centers in Lower Egypt, Memphis and Heliopolis were treated equally. On a rock stele in Tura, he took into account in his titles both Atum as the main god of Heliopolis and Ptah from Memphis.
In the 18th dynasty it became common for the crown princes to complete their military training in Memphite barracks. Memphis thus became the "Crown Prince Residence", as the Crown Prince began to set up their own domains and palace complexes. One of the first was Amunmose , who served as army general in Memphis, where the campaigns of his father Thutmose I began. Thutmose III. commanded the Egyptian army in Memphis towards the end of Queen Hatshepsut's reign and directed several smaller military operations. Also Amenhotep II. And Thutmose IV. Completed their military training in Memphis and practiced as archers on target practice places on the Giza Plateau north of the city. The day's program included the hunt for lions and wild bulls in the desert. Special workshops for armourers and chariots were set up in Memphis, building up an arms industry that became an important economic factor in the city.
Thutmose III. expanded the port of Memphis ( peru nefer ) and set up shipyards to build a modern fleet for river and sea shipping. He hired Syrian ship carpenters who had experience building seagoing ships from their homeland. The fleet was used to quickly transport troop contingents, weapons and supplies for the soldiers in the Near East. Due to its favorable location, the city attracted many people from neighboring countries, merchants, craftsmen and musicians, who settled in the city and brought their culture and religion with them. Memphis grew more and more into a flourishing and cosmopolitan metropolis.
Amenhotep III continued the work of its predecessors and tried to get Memphis a leading role as the second state capital. First and foremost, he wanted to weaken the overwhelming power of Thebes and re-establish Memphis as an important religious center. As the first ruler, he did not send his eldest son Thutmose to the military as usual, but let him begin training as a priest in the Ptah temple. Thutmose was supposed to hold the rank of high priest and the highest Egyptian priestly office of “head of the prophets of Upper and Lower Egypt”, which until then was only exercised by the high priests of Amun in Karnak . Amenhotep III founded the first Apis chapel and had his own temple of worship Hut Neb-Maat-Re ("Temple of Neb-Maat-Re") built, which he provided with an extensive sacrificial foundation. At the same time he appointed a high dignitary named Amenhotep to the asset management and entrusted him with many other important offices.
After the reign of Akhenaten , who moved the state capital to Middle Egypt , the imperial administration under Tutankhamun was completely transferred to Memphis, while Thebes only remained the seat of the royal residence. Haremhab , who began his military career under Amenhotep III. had started, took Memphis again as a starting point for campaigns to the Near East and had an official grave set up in the Memphite necropolis of Saqqara.
Ramesside time
Under the Ramessids , Memphis remained the seat of central administration and the command center for the army. Old and new kings and gods festivals were celebrated and the city was once again brought to the fore as a sacred place of worship. The main god Ptah merged with Re from Heliopolis and the Theban Amun to form the triple deity Amun-Ra-Ptah, with all three religious centers remaining equal.
Under Ramses II the new Delta capital Pi-Ramesse was built, but Memphis retained its prominent role as the second state capital. Ramses II installed his son Chaemwaset as high priest of Ptah, who oversaw numerous building projects of his father in Memphis and also organized his first traditional jubilee in the city. Chaemwaset also restored the pyramids in the necropolis outside the city gates. Ramses II had many different monuments built, including the west hall of the Ptah temple, a pylon and a small temple of Hathor . The increasing prosperity brought forth many important officials and priests, who dug elaborate and artistically balanced tombs in the nearby necropolis and whose decoration resembled the burial of the Theban officials.
Time of decline
In the Third Intermediate Period , when Egypt was divided again, Memphis was conquered by various foreign rulers. The new rulers spared the holy places and built their own new cult facilities. The Libyan king Scheschonq I ( 22nd dynasty ) built a new embalming house for the Apis bulls. Also Tefnakhte , Bokchoris and Kuschitenkönig Piankhy spared the temple. After Pianchi conquered the city after fierce fighting, the subsequent Kushite kings established their residence in Memphis. It was only when Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians that the temples and cult complexes of Memphis were plundered and destroyed.
In the restoration phase of the 26th dynasty ( String Age ), the old cults came back to life. Psammetich I built a propylon in front of the Ptah temple, renovated the temple of Serapis and built further galleries and burial chambers in the Serapeum . The following kings Necho II. , Apries and Amasis immortalized themselves in the temple complex and intensified the cult of Apis. Remains of a palace complex north of the Ptah Temple have also been preserved from King Apries. After the invasion of the Persians under Cambyses II , the holy places were again destroyed and the sacred bulls of Apis were slaughtered. His successor Darius I had some destroyed temples rebuilt. During the Persian period, many foreigners moved to the city and trade with distant countries flourished. After the Persians were driven out with the help of Athens and Sparta , the kings of the 29th and 30th dynasties were crowned again in Memphis, which now looked more like a fortress than a prosperous city.
The Persians then conquered Memphis a second time, but were defeated in 332 BC. Expelled by Alexander the Great . He respected the faith of the Egyptians, worshiped the Egyptian gods and the Apis bull and was crowned Pharaoh in Memphis. Games and competitions were held and cultural life was renewed. After the founding of the new capital Alexandria directly on the Mediterranean Sea , Memphis lost its importance as an important port city , but remained important. The Ptolemaic kings continued to build the Ptah Temple for the next three hundred years. Even under Roman rule, Memphis remained a densely populated, flourishing trading city, even if it no longer had the same importance as a residential and administrative center as it had during the New Kingdom.
Coptic and Arab times
Little is known of Memphis in Coptic times. In 639 the Arab troops conquered Egypt, which was under Roman rule until this time. According to Flinders Petrie , the treaty of surrender between the Roman governor and the Arabs was signed in Memphis. In 641, the Islamic troop leader Amr ibn al-As founded the city of Fustat north of Memphis , which was to form the Arab city center of Cairo . The city's buildings, as well as the mosques and city walls , were built with building materials from Memphis, which served as a quarry . All temples and palaces were demolished, architectural parts such as ornaments or columns were built into the new buildings in Cairo. Only a few ruins remained that were recaptured by nature. The Nile mud bricks provided fertile soil on which date palms were planted and fields were created.
religion
Memphis was a major religious center in Ancient Egypt, where many special city gods were worshiped. The Memphite priests developed their own theory on the origin of the world and the history of creation. A specialty was the bull cult , in which a living bull, considered sacred, was the focus.
Native gods
The main god of Memphis was Ptah , who owned an extensive temple complex in the city. He was considered the patron god of sculptors , painters and craftsmen . In Memphis, Ptah forms a triad of gods together with the lion-headed goddess Sachmet and the youthful god Nefertem . The worship of Sekhmet ( sḫmt , "the mighty") goes back to the Old Kingdom, where she still appeared as a peaceful protective goddess, but later developed into a powerful goddess of war. Nefertem, the son of Ptah and Sekhmet, was the god of youth , beauty and perfection . Its symbol is the flower of the blue lotus . In the Pyramid Texts and in the Book of the Dead , Nefertem is referred to as “the lotus blossom on the nose of Re”; that is, he appears there as the life giver of the sun god Re . As the son of Sekhmet, Nefertem can occasionally show warlike aspects and is then shown with a curved sword or as a lion devouring an enemy.
The name of the Memphite necropolis Saqqara is derived from its patron god Sokar . He is usually depicted as a mummy-shaped person with a falcon head. He served as the patron saint of necropolis workers and was a Memphite god from the earliest times, even if his exact origin is unknown. In the Old Kingdom he entered into a connection with Ptah and formed the double deity Ptah-Sokar with him . As the patron god of the necropolis, Sokar developed into a deity of the dead. In this function he entered into a connection with Osiris from Abydos and is therefore equated with him in the pyramid texts. In the Middle Kingdom, the three deities were linked to form the triad Ptah-Sokar-Osiris , whose symbols were found in the late period in the form of a wooden statuette in many graves of this time.
In his function as fertility and earth god, Sokar was honored with the Sokar festival from the New Kingdom onwards , which was celebrated nationwide every year at the beginning of the field work on the 26th day of the 4th month of achet . For this purpose, Sokar, symbolically seated by a stone or as a falcon on a mound of earth, was placed on a decorated boat that was pulled around the walls of Memphis with a sleigh . This task was traditionally the responsibility of the king, but priests could also act on their behalf . The people of the area decorated themselves with a wreath of onions around their necks and followed the barque in a solemn procession . Representations of the festival can be found at temples from the Old Kingdom, but also in detail in the New Kingdom in Medinet Habu in Upper Egypt .
Serapis is the Graecized form of Osiris-Apis and does not appear as a god until the later period of Egyptian history. He is the typical Memphite form of the underworld god Osiris. The cult of Osiris-Apis was initially limited to Memphis and was then brought to Alexandria by Ptolemy I. There he received his own place of worship in the Serapeum of Alexandria . It was only here that he took on Greek features and since then has been revered by Greeks and Egyptians together.
Foreign gods
The Syrian goddess Qudschu was a cult form of the goddesses Anat and Astarte in the ancient Orient and only developed into an independent fertility and healing goddess in Egypt. In Memphis, she had a main place of worship in the Ptah Temple, where she was either considered the daughter or wife of Ptah.
The Canaanite weather god Baal was responsible for the fertility of the earth as well as for storms , storms and thunderstorms . Like Sachmet, he combined both healing and destructive aspects in himself. His worship in Memphis can be traced back to the time of Amenhotep II. In the port of Memphis, Peru-nefer, he appeared as Baal-Sapan and was the patron saint of seafarers. He was venerated until the late period in a sanctuary that was built by Syrian sailors and later also used by Egyptian seafarers. A man with the Semitic name Sarabijahina is known as the first priest of Baal-Sapan . From the 19th dynasty, Baal was a king god and merged with the Egyptian deity Seth .
The war god Reschup , who comes from Amurru , was worshiped by Memphite craftsmen as “Great God, Lord of Heaven” and as a god of healing from the Ramesside period. He was connected to epidemics and calamities and, like Sachmet, was able to cause them as well as prevent and cure them. Previously, he was worshiped as a warlike deity under Amenhotep II and depicted on several steles. Like Astarte, he was associated with horses and was often depicted on horseback until the mid-18th dynasty. Resup is always depicted on steles with a club , shield and spear . Resup formed a triad with the fertility god Min and the Syrian goddess Qudschu and thus received aspects of eroticism and fertility.
In Peru-nefer, Astarte was revered like Qudschu as the daughter or wife of Ptah and identified with the lion goddess Sakmet. She was the only goddess in the Egyptian pantheon who was responsible for protecting the chariots. It is therefore often shown accompanied by the king fighting in a chariot and is referred to as the “king's shield”.
Apis cult
Along with Heliopolis and Hermonthis, Memphis was one of the main centers of the Egyptian bull cult. While the Mnevis bull was worshiped in Heliopolis and the Buchis bull in Hermonthis , homage was paid to Apis in Memphis, who was regarded as the embodiment or divine herald of the main god Ptah.
According to tradition, the Apis cult goes back to the 1st Dynasty and is said to have been introduced by the legendary King Menes. The bull symbolized fertility and divine strength, which is why Egyptian kings were occasionally nicknamed the “strong bull”. To be considered a special sacred animal, an Apis bull had to have black fur with white spots of a certain shape. In addition, it had to have a triangular spot on the forehead, a white spot in the shape of a vulture on the neck and a crescent-shaped symbol on the right side . A total of 29 characteristics were distinguished that were necessary for the inclusion of a sacred Apis bull in the enclosure of the Ptah temple. If it was a young animal , it was left there to a large number of keepers, including three high priests . The bull spent an average of 25 years in the divine enclosure and was fed with selected foods by pilgrims and priests. He lived in the stable for most of his time, but could be shown to the public in the Tempelhof on special occasions.
If the animal died, a mourning period of seventy days was imposed across the country. The time was needed to mummify the deceased Apis . The embalming rites were similar to those of humans. Until the time of Seti I, the dead bulls were buried in individual graves. Then a gallery was built , which was expanded into a catacomb-like burial site ( Serapeum in Saqqara) until the Ptolemaic period . The bull mummy was transported in a solemn procession from the embalming house on the grounds of the Ptah Temple to the Serapeum in Saqqara via a long sphinx avenue that was discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1850 . After the death of Apis it was a matter of finding a suitable successor among the numerous herds of Egypt.
Creation myth
Ptah was at the center of the creation doctrine developed in Memphis , in which he took a leading role in the creation of the world. His creation of the world was based on the knowledge of the heart , which according to ancient Egyptian beliefs was the seat of the mind and the feelings . Through the power of the spoken word , his ideas were transformed into concrete, diverse forms of the material world.
The content of this creation story is passed down through a ritual text on a granite stele , which is known as a monument to Memphite theology . It goes back to a text from the New Kingdom, which the Cushite king Shabaka around 700 BC. . Chr transferred from a worn papyrus and had erected in the temple of Ptah:
“The heart and the tongue have power over all members - because it [the heart] is in every body and it [the tongue] is in every mouth of all gods, all men, all cattle, all worms and everything that which lives - in that the heart thinks everything it wants and the tongue commands everything that the former wants. ... It is the heart that gives rise to all knowledge, it is the tongue that repeats what is thought up by the heart. Thus all gods were created and his ninehood was completed. Every word of God arose from what was thought up by the heart and commanded by the tongue. So all the work and every work of art were produced, the doing of the hands and the walking of the feet and the movement of every limb according to his direction, which is devised from the heart and comes out of the tongue ... and Ptah was satisfied after he had made all things and God's words . "
archeology
History of discovery and research
The place of Memphis has been famous outside the country since ancient times and is mentioned not only in Egyptian texts but also frequently in other ancient sources.
Correspondence from kingdoms related to the country have been preserved from various rediscovered diplomatic archives. Mention should be made here of the Amarna letters , which the correspondence between the Babylonian rulers or the Syrian city-states with the court of Amenhotep III. or Akhenaten , the cuneiform archives of Boğazkale , the capital of the Hittite Empire, in which the diplomatic exchange between the two great powers at the time of Ramses II was kept, the victory steles of the rulers from Napata , which provide a contextual description of the city, or the declarations of victory of the Assyrian kings , who also mention the ancient capital on the list of their conquests.
From antiquity to the Middle Ages
From the second half of the first millennium BC, the ancient mentions accumulate and become more detailed, especially with the development of Greek trade and the descriptions of the travelers who followed the traders when they discovered the Egyptian land. Some of the most important classic authors who mention the ancient city of Memphis include:
- Herodotus who visited and described the city's monuments during the first Persian rule in the fifth century BC
- the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily, who visited the place in the first century BC and, in agreement with Herodotus, gathered information about the city, but also provided new details
- the Greek geographer Strabo , who visited the place during the Roman conquest at the end of the first century BC and provided a description
After that the city was mentioned frequently by other Latin or Greek authors of the Roman Empire, but few of them gave a comprehensive description. Most limited themselves to details of the cults, especially the Apis cult , such as B. Suetonius or Ammianus Marcellinus . With the abandonment of cults and the loss of economic importance within the country, which began several centuries earlier with the emergence of Alexandria , the city fell into oblivion in the subsequent Christian era. New descriptions of the city, which had meanwhile fallen into ruins, only reappear with the conquest of the country by the Arabs .
The most important sources from this period include:
- Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi , a famous geographer from Baghdad , who gave a description of the ruins during his stay in Egypt in the thirteenth century
- Muhammad al-Maqriz , a fourteenth century Egyptian historian who also visited and described the site
From the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment
After the end of the European Middle Ages and as a result of the Crusades , western travelers report in numerous works about the rediscovery of the Middle East . At that time Egypt was an almost indispensable stop for many pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land . Some visitors wrote travel reports, which thanks to the recent invention of the printing press, found widespread use. The exact location of the city was still unknown at that time and its mention in biblical texts did not allow any precise conclusions. However, some travelers tried to locate the ruins of the city based on the classical writings of ancient authors.
In 1652, Jean de Thévenot was the first European to correctly interpret the location and the ruins on his journey to Egypt, just as the Arabic writers did earlier. Its description is brief, but it is the first of its kind before the explorations of the ensuing Age of Enlightenment and before the invention of modern archeology .
The hour of birth of modern archeology in Egypt took place with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798. The interpretation of Thévenot was confirmed by more detailed research and uncovering of the monuments. The expedition included not only French soldiers, but also numerous scholars who published the results of their first scientific investigations in the multi-volume Description de l'Égypte . The monumental work also contained a map of the region in which the exact location of Memphis was recorded for the first time.
19th century and first explorer
This laid the foundation for the major research that followed in the nineteenth century and was carried out by the first Egyptologists. It was not long before the establishment of large archaeological institutes, which were used to organize expeditions and, above all, to publish research results.
- The first excavations in Memphis were carried out by Giovanni Battista Caviglia and Sloane in 1820. The two researchers discovered the large reclining colossal statue of Ramses II, which is exhibited in the open-air museum and is the main attraction of the excavation site.
- Jean-François Champollion , who came to Memphis during his trip to Egypt from 1828 to 1830, described the colossal statue discovered by Caviglia and Sloane, carried out some excavations and deciphered the accessible cartouches and inscriptions. He made a firm commitment to return at a later date with more equipment and time to study the remains more thoroughly. However, his sudden death in 1832 prevented the implementation of his plans.
- As part of the Prussian expedition of 1842, Karl Richard Lepsius uncovered other remains and made a detailed map that served as the basis for all subsequent explorations and excavations.
Egypt, then liberated from the Ottoman yoke, began to develop economically and to open up again. Even if the country under construction was still under the influence of the great colonial powers of the time, particularly Great Britain , it gradually took control of itself. The protectorate status had a major impact on the country's economic growth. The systematic cultivation of the soil led to the de facto partly accidental discoveries of archaeological remains, so that great European collectors set out to plow through the country for antiquity on behalf of important museums from London , Turin , Paris and Berlin . In an attempt to cultivate previously fallow land, farmers accidentally discovered parts of a Roman Mithras sanctuary in Kom el-Dafbaby, near the village of Mit-Rahina, in 1847.
From 1852 to 1854, Joseph Hekekyan , who worked on behalf of the Egyptian government, carried out geological test drillings and made numerous discoveries. In Kom el-Khanzir, northeast of the ramparts of the great Ptah temple, he unearthed talatat blocks from the Amarna period , which came from an ancient aton temple in Memphis. They were probably reused for the foundation walls or for the paving of another monument that has now been destroyed. Hekekyan also discovered the large colossal statue of Ramses II made of rose granite .
The multitude of archaeological discoveries and the constant danger that all riches would leave Egyptian soil forever made it necessary to set up a separate institute for the exploration and rescue of the country's treasures. Auguste Mariette , who uncovered the Serapeum in Saqqara in 1850, founded the Egyptian Antiquities Administration and led excavations in Memphis from 1850 to 1860, during which he unearthed the first remains of the great Ptah Temple and in particular discovered statues of kings from the Old Kingdom. He cleared the great granite colossus of Ramses II. In addition, the most important discoveries took place under his care.
Archeology in the 20th century
The most important discoveries of the excavation site come from the extensive excavations carried out by the British Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie between 1907 and 1912 . These include the identification of the Hypostyle Hall of Ptah Temple and the pylon of Ramses II, the discovery of the large alabaster sphinx - another main exhibit in the open-air museum - and the large northern walling around the Apries Palace. At the same time he discovered the remains of the Temple of Amun in Siamun and the Temple of Ptah in Merenptah. His work was interrupted by the First World War and continued by other expeditions at that time. Later, a follow-up mission tried to continue its work and publish the results. Further remains of the city were uncovered and some additional monuments were recovered.
- From 1914 to 1921, the University of Pennsylvania expedition excavated the Ptah Temple of Merenptah and discovered the Palace of Merenptah in Kom el-Qala.
- In 1942, the Egyptian Administration of Antiquities (SCA) discovered under the Egyptian Egyptologist Labib Habachi the small "Ptah Temple of Ramses, loved by Amun, ruler god of Heliopolis" and the burial chapel of Prince Scheschonq and his son Takelot from the 22nd Dynasty .
- In 1950, Habachi discovered the chapel of Seti I on behalf of the SCA .
- In the same year, the Egyptian government decided to transfer the large colossal statue of Ramses II made of rose granite to Cairo and erect it in front of the city's main train station. The place was then named Midân Ramsis . The statue is now in the Great Egyptian Museum in Giza .
- In 1954 a cemetery from the Middle Kingdom in Kom el-Fakhri was discovered by chance during road works.
- From 1955 to 1957 Rudolf Anthes excavated the small Ptah temple of Ramses on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania and unearthed the Apis Wabet and the embalming table of the holy bull.
- In 1969, a capital of the small temple of Hathor was discovered by chance .
- From 1970 to 1984 the SCA carried out excavations and excavated the small temple of Hathor.
- In 1980, the American Research Center in Egypt carried out additional excavations , which also examined the Apis-Wabet .
- Two years later, the British Egyptologist Jaromír Málek examined and recorded the small Ptah temple of Ramses.
- From 1970 and from 1984 to 1990 excavations were carried out by the Egypt Exploration Society in London. Additional excavations of the hypostyle hall and pylons of Ramses II took place and the granite block with the annals of Amenemhet II was discovered. Furthermore, the tombs of the high priest of Ptah from the third interim period were excavated in Kom el-Fakhri , and the site of Kom el-Rabia was explored , the city and necropolis of the Middle Kingdom identified and excavated, and the city of the Old Kingdom is investigated west of Memphis at Saqqara.
- Excavations by the SCA took place in the south of Kom el-Qala. A residential area from Roman times was discovered.
- In 2003 the Department of Antiquities continued excavations at the small Hathor Temple.
- In 2003 and 2004, the first two excavation campaigns of the Russian-Belgian expedition took place on the great north wall of Memphis.
ruins
The metaphor Libra of the two countries refers to the favorable geographic location of Memphis between Upper and Lower Egypt . At that time, Memphis was likely to have been located near the old bed of the Nile on the western side - the current ruins are about 3 km from the Nile.
The ruins that were excavated in the 19th and 20th centuries bear witness to this . a. the Temple of Ptah, Isis and Re , the Serapeum, two colossal statues of Ramses II, one. Alabaster - Sphinx and many houses.
In addition to the grave fields on the west and east banks ( Dahshur , Sakkara, Abusir and Gizeh in the west, Helwan , Ma'asara , Tura and Maadi in the east), Memphis provides unique finds that testify to the history and culture of dynastic and Hellenistic Egypt. Although the current ruins are often overlooked, it is one of the largest sites in Egypt and stretches ten kilometers along the Nile. It is divided into individual mounds of rubble called tells or koms . There are three larger depressions ( Birkas ) between the Koms , which mark the location of holy places on flatter terrain. The southern area has been the most explored so far.
Kom el-Rabia, Kom Sabkha
Kom el-Rabia is one of the smallest Koms and is located in the southwest of the Ptah Temple. It houses two small temples for Ptah and Hathor and was built by Ramses II ( 19th dynasty ). The temple was reused in the late period and overbuilt in Roman times . Other remains are a building from the 21st dynasty , parts of a Greek temple and Laconicum , and a bathhouse in the southern part of Kom Sabkha. More recent excavations on the west side of el-Rabia have also uncovered several layers of settlement from the Middle Kingdom to the Late Period, which, however, show a gap between the 13th and 18th dynasties . The finds indicate that the early building phases of the city lie below and beyond the western field of ruins.
Kom el-Oala, Kom Helul
Kom el-Oala is located southeast of the temple complex and houses a small temple and a palace of Merenptah. There are only a few remains of the two structures, but the floor plan was still respected until Roman times, although the foundation walls had long since disappeared under a later construction. In Kom Helul further south, Flinders Petrie found a faience workshop from Greco-Roman times.
Temple of Ptah
The facility covers the central Birka and was probably built on land reclaimed by the Nile. In terms of its trapezoidal plan ( 410 × 580 × 480 × 630 m ), it competed with the Amun Re temple in Karnak . The surrounding wall was lined with colossal statues , which were particularly located at the four main entrances. There were also statues of sphinxes at the north and south gates . Little is known about the internal structure of the temple. At the west gate there was a hypostyle hall , which may have been reminiscent of a Sedfest by Ramses II . In the southwest corner of the complex there was a temple from the late period for the cult of the Apis bull .
Kom el-Fachri
South of the village of Mit Rahina there is a cemetery from the 1st Intermediate Period and settlement remains from the early Middle Kingdom. The still intact graves are poorly preserved and probably contained a family tomb. The grave goods and decorations discovered resemble contemporary graves in Saqqara. Recent excavations in the east have uncovered layers of settlement from the 18th Dynasty , including facilities for storing grain.
Urban structure
The structure of the city emerges from texts of the New Kingdom (approx. 1550 BC) and excavations: in the west the necropolis of Saqqara, in the east the main port Peru-nefer ( good exit ), in the south a temple of the goddess Hathor ( Mistress of the southern sycamore ) and to the north the temple of the goddess Neith ( north of her wall ). In the center of the Royal Palace was a military - Garrison with Arsenal and north of the temple of the city god Ptah.
open air museum
There is an open-air museum in the small village of Mit Rahina . The main pieces are the reclining colossal statue of Ramses II, which is shown inside the museum building, a standing colossal statue of Ramses II and an alabaster sphinx. More pieces can be seen in a sculpture garden.
According to Wafaa el-Saddik , who was director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 2004 to 2010 , the museum and the magazines were “completely robbed” on January 29, 2011 in connection with the revolution in Egypt . There is still no more detailed information about the losses incurred.
Statue of Ramses II in front of the entrance to the museum building
Lying colossal statue of Ramses II.
Alabaster Sphinx
State 1924
Parts of the Colossus of Ramses II in the Ptah Temple of Memphis
literature
- Hans Bonnet : Memphis. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 446-450.
- Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto : Memphis. In: Small Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , pp. 184-186.
- Gabriele Höber-Kamel : Memphis - History of a Metropolis (= Kemet issue 2/2002. ). Kemet-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISSN 0943-5972 .
- David G. Jeffreys : The Survey of Memphis. Egypt Exploration Society, London 1985, ISBN 0-85698-099-4 .
- David G. Jeffreys: Memphis. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 488-90.
- Peter Der Manuelian : Memphite private tombs of the Old Kingdom. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 493-97.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Greek word Aegyptus (Αἴγυπτος) derived from the name of this temple as a name for the country of Egypt.
- ^ David G. Jeffreys: The Survey of Memphis I. London 1985.
- ↑ Herodotus: Historien II. P. 99.
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet Heft 2/2002 , p. 6.
- ↑ Gerald P. Verbrugghe, John M. Wickersham: Berossos and Manetho, introduced and translated. Native traditions in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (Michigan) 2000, ISBN 0-472-08687-1 , pp. 131 and 187.
- ↑ a b Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae.
- ↑ a b c G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet Heft 2/2002 , p. 5.
- ↑ Occupied on the Palermostein.
- ↑ a b G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet Heft 2/2002 , p. 7.
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet Heft 2/2002 , pp. 7-8.
- ↑ a b c G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , pp. 9-11.
- ↑ a b c d G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , pp. 8–9.
- ↑ a b c d e G. Höber-Kamel, In: Kemet Heft 2/2002 , p. 11.
- ↑ According to other sources in Babylon .
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , pp. 16-18.
- ↑ a b G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , p. 18.
- ↑ a b G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , p. 19.
- ↑ a b G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , p. 20.
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , pp. 20-21.
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , p. 21.
- ↑ G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , pp. 18-19.
- ↑ a b G. Höber-Kamel: The world of the gods of Memphis. In: Kemet issue 2/2002 , p. 16.
- ↑ Herodotus: Histories II . Paragraphs 99, 101, 108, 110, 112, 121, 136, 153 and 176.
- ↑ Diodor: Bibliotheca historica . Paragraphs 12, 15 and 24 in the first chapter of Book I, as well as paragraphs 7, 8, 10, 20 and 32 in the second chapter of the same book.
- ^ Strabo: Geographika. Chapters 31 and 32 of the 17th book.
- ^ Suetonius: Vie de Titus , § V.
- ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus: Book XXII. § XIV.
- ↑ Thévenot: Livre second du voyage de M. de Thévenot au Levant. 1689, 2nd book, Chapter IV, p. 403 and Chapter VI, p. 429.
- ↑ Champollion-Figeac: L'Égypte Ancienne. 1840, p. 63.
- ^ Lepsius: Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia, 1849-1859. Pp. 202–204 as well as panels 9 and 10.
- ^ Mariette: Monuments divers recueillis en Égypte et en Nubie , 1872.
- ^ Flinders Petrie : Memphis I. School of Archeology in Egypt, University College, London 1908, online .
- ↑ Alexander Badawy : The grave of Crown Prince Scheschonk, son of Osorkon II and high priest of Memphis. In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. (ASAE) No. 54, 1956, pp. 153-177.
- ^ El-Hitta: Fouilles de Memphis à Kom el Fakhri, Les grandes découvertes archéologiques de 1954. 1955.
- ^ Anthes: A First Season of Excavating in Memphis. 1956.
- ^ Abdulla el-Sayed Mahmud: A new temple for Hathor at Memphis. 1978.
- ^ Jones: The temple of Apis in Memphis. 1990.
- ↑ Málek: A Temple with a Noble Pylon. 1988.
- ^ David G. Jeffreys: The Survey of Memphis. 1985.
- ↑ a b c d David G. Jeffreys: Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. 1999, p. 489.
- ^ Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. 2000, p. 197.
- ^ David G. Jeffreys: Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. 1999, pp. 489-490.
- ↑ Numerous Greek and Carian mercenaries were stationed in Memphis, most of whom returned home after the end of their work, but some stayed in Memphis and mixed with the local population (hence the Karomemphitai and the Hellenomemphitai ), cf. Murray: Early Greece. P. 288.
- ↑ “They were our own people” Interview with Wafaa el-Saddik on Die Zeit -Online from January 30, 2011
Abusir | Dahshur | Memphis | Giza pyramids | Saqqara | Saujet el-Arjan
Coordinates: 29 ° 51 ' N , 31 ° 15' E