Memphis

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Capital of Lower Egypt, on the W. or left bank of the Nile. Hebrew " Νowph " ( Isaiah 19:13). " Μowph ," or Memphis ( Hosea 9:6). Second only to Thebes in all Egypt; the residence of the kings until the Ptolemies moved to Alexandria. Plutarch makes it mean "the port of good things," the sepulchre of Osiris, the necropolis of Egypt, "the haven of the blessed," for the right of burial was given only to the good. Diodorus Siculus (i. 4) observes, the inhabitants value little this brief life, but most highly the name of a virtuous life after death; they call the houses of the living inns, because they remain in them only a little while, but the sepulchers of the dead everlasting habitations; they are not therefore very careful about their houses, but in beautifying the sepulchers leave nothing undone. "The good" may refer to Osiris, whose sacred animal Apis was here worshipped, and had its burial place the Serapeum, from whence the village Busiris is named, namely, "the abode of Osiris," now Aboo Seer .

"Memphis shall bury them" is a characteristic description, its burying ground extending 20 miles along the Libyan desert's border. Mem means a foundation or wall, and nofre "good"; or mam-Phta "the dwelling of Phta" the god answering to the Greek Hephaestus, Latin Vulcan; or from Menes its founder. Near the pyramids of Gizeh, and ten miles to the S. of modern Cairo; the court of the idol bull Apis. In hieroglyphics called "the city of pyramids." The monuments of Memphis are more ancient than those of Thebes. Menes (Compare Minos In Crete,  Genesis 10:6 ; Bochart Makes Him Mizraim, And Thinks Memphis Was Called Μezri From Him, As The Arabs Now Call It) its founder dates 2690 B.C. (Sir G. Wilkinson), 2717 B.C. (Poole), 2200 or 2300 according to Eratosthenes compare with Dicaearchus. Many of Manetho's dynasties were contemporaneous, not successive.

"Menes" in hieroglyphics is written as the founder of Memphis on the roof of the Rameseum near Gournon in western Thebes, at the head of the ancestors of Rameses the Great; the earliest mention of the name is on a ruined tomb at Gizeh, "the royal governor Menes," a descendant probably of the first Menes, and living under the fifth dynasty. Caviglia discovered the colossal statue of Rameses II beautifully sculptured. Before Menes the Nile, emerging from the upper valley, bent W. to the Libyan hills, and was wasted in the sands and stagnant pools. Menes, according to Herodotus, by banking up the river at the bend 100 furlongs S. of Memphis, laid the old channel dry, and dug a new course between the hills, and excavated a lake outside Memphis to the N. and W., communicating with the river. Thus Memphis was built in the narrow part of Egypt, on a marsh reclaimed by Menes' dyke and drained by his artificial lake. The dyke began 12 miles S. of Memphis, and deflected the river two miles eastward.

At the rise of the Nile a canal still led some of its waters westward through the former bed, irrigating the western plain. The artificial lake at Abousir guarded against inundation on that side. Memphis commanded the Delta on one hand and Upper Egypt on the other; on the W. the Libyan mountains and desert defended it; on the E. the river and its artificial embankments. The climate is equable, judging from Cairo. Menes built the temple of Phta (His Deified Ancestor Phut, Fourth Son Of Ham, Who Settled In Libya,  Genesis 10:6 ) , the creative power, represented ordinarily holding the Nilometer or emblem of stability combined with the symbol of life, and a scepter, Moeris, Sesostris, Rhampsiuitis, Asychis, Psammeticus, and Amosis successively beautified this temple with gateways and colossal statues (Including Those Of Summer And Winter By Rhampsinitis) .

In the grand avenue to it fights between bulls (Not With Men, For The Bull Was Sacred) such as are depicted on the tombs were exhibited. The temple of Apis also was here with a magnificent colonnade supported by colossal Osiride statue pillars; through it on state occasions was led a black bull with peculiarly shaped white spots upon his forehead and right side, the hairs on the tail double, and the scarabaeus or sacred beetle marked on his tongue. A gallery, 2,000 ft. long by 20 high and 20 wide, was the burial place of the embalmed sacred bulls. Apis was thought the incarnation of Osiris, who with Isis was the universal object of worship in Egypt. Aaron's calf, and Jeroboam's two calves, were in part suggested by the Egyptian sacred bull, in part by the cherubim ox. Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 46:20) alludes to Apis, "Egypt is like a very fair heifer."

Isis had a temple at Memphis, and was buried there. The sacred cubit used in measuring the Nile was in the temple of Serapis. Proteus (a Memphite king), Venus, Ra or Phre ("the sun"), and the Cabeiri too had temples in Memphis. The region of the pyramids (from Peram "the lofty"; Ewald translated  Job 3:14 built pyramids for themselves"), 67 (Lepsius) in number, or probably fewer as many of the 67 are doubtful, lies wholly W. of the Nile, from a little N.W. of Cairo to 40 miles S. and thence S.W. 25 miles. The Memphite necropolis ranges about 15 miles to Gizeh, including many pyramids of Egyptian sovereigns; the pyramids at Gizeh are the largest and oldest. See Piazzi Smyth, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," on the scientific bearings of this extraordinary and, in his view, divinely planned monument, which has no idolatrous emblem on it, unlike other Egyptian monuments.

The Hyksos or shepherd kings ( Genesis 49:24), Shofo and Noushofo, 2500 B.C., he thinks, built the great pyramid under God's guidance, and the cities Salem, of which Melchizedek was shepherd priestking, and Damascus. Isaiah ( Isaiah 19:13) foretold, "the princes of Noph are deceived," i.e. the military caste with all the famed "wisdom of Egypt" err in fancying themselves secure, namely, from Sargon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cambyses, who successively conquered Egypt. Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 46:19), "Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant "(compare  Jeremiah 43:10). Ezekiel, 575 B.C. ( Ezekiel 30:13;  Ezekiel 30:16), "I will destroy the idols and cause their images to cease out of Noph." Half a century afterward (525 B.C.) Cambyses fulfilled it, killing Apis, scourging his priests, opening the sepulchers, examining the bodies, making sport of Phta's image, and burning the images of the Cabeiri (Herodotus, iii. 37). Memphis never recovered. Alexandria succeeded to its importance. So utter was its fall that the very site for a time was unknown. Mariette and Linant brought to light its antiquities, some of which are in the British Museum. Its dykes and canals still are the basis of the irrigation of Lower Egypt. The village Meet Raheeneh now stands where once was its center.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Mem'phis. (Haven, Of The Good). A city of ancient Egypt, situated on that western bank of the Nile, about nine miles south of Cairo, and five from the great pyramids and the sphinx. It is mentioned by Isaiah,  Isaiah 40:14;  Isaiah 40:19, and Ezekiel,  Ezekiel 30:13;  Ezekiel 30:16, under the name of Noph .

Though some regard Thebes as the more ancient city, the monuments of Memphis are of higher antiquity than those of Thebes. The city is said to have had a circumference of about 10 miles. The temple of Apis was one of the most noted structures of Memphis. It stood opposite the southern portico of the temple of Ptah; and Psammetichus, who built that gateway, also erected in front of the sanctuary of Apis, a magnificent colonnade, supported by colossal statues or Osiride pillars, such as may still be seen at the temple of Medeenet Habou at Thebes. Herod. Ii, 153.

Through this colonnade, the Apis was led with great pomp upon state occasions. At Memphis was the reputed burial-place of Isis; it has also a temple to that "myriad-named" divinity. Memphis had also its Serapeium, which probably stood in the western quarter of the city. The sacred cubit, until other symbols used in measuring the rise of the Nile, were deposited in the temple of Serapis. The Necropolis, adjacent to Memphis, was on a scale of grandeur corresponding with the city itself.

The "city of the pyramids" is a title of Memphis in the hieroglyphics upon the monuments. Memphis long held its place as a capital; and for centuries, a Memphite dynasty ruled over all Egypt. Lepsius, Bunsen and Brugsch agree in regarding the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth dynasties of the old empire as Memphite, reaching through a period of about 1000 years. The city's overthrow was distinctly predicted by the Hebrew prophets.  Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 46:19 The latest of these predictions was uttered nearly 600 years before Christ , and a half a century before the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses (cir, B.C. 525).

Herodotus informs us that Cambyses, engaged at the opposition he encountered at Memphis, committed many outrages upon the city. The city never recovered from the blow inflicted by Cambyses. The rise of Alexandria hastened its decline. The caliph conquerors founded Fostat, (old Cairo), upon the opposite bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and brought materials from the old city to build their new capital, A.D. 638. At length, so complete was the ruin of Memphis that, for a long time , its very site was lost. Recent explorations have brought to light many of its antiquities.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

MEMPHIS. The famous ancient capital of Egypt, a few miles south of Cairo, the present capital. According to tradition, Memphis was built by Menes, who first united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. Kings and dynasties might make their principal residences in the cities from which they sprang, but until Alexandria was founded as the capital of the Greek dynasty, no Egyptian city, except Thebes, under the New Kingdom equalled Memphis in size and importance. The palaces of most of the early kings (Dyns. 3 12) were at or near Memphis, their positions being now marked by the pyramids in which the same kings were buried. The pyramid-field extends on the edge of the desert about 20 miles, from Dahshur on the south to Abu Roash on the north, the Great Pyramids of Gizeh lying 12 miles north of the central ruins of Memphis. The Egyptian name Menfi (in Hebrew Noph ,   Isaiah 19:13 ,   Jeremiah 2:16;   Jeremiah 44:1;   Jeremiah 46:14;   Jeremiah 46:19 ,   Ezekiel 30:13;   Ezekiel 30:16; once Moph ,   Hosea 9:5 ), was apparently taken from that of the palace and pyramid of Pepy 1. of the 6th Dynasty, which were built close to the city. At a later period, Tahrak (Tirhakah) ruled at Memphis; Necho, Hophra, and the other kings of the 26th Dynasty were buried at their ancestral city Sais, although their government was centred in Memphis. After the foundation of Alexandria the old capital fell to the second place, but it held a vast population till after the Arab conquest, when it rapidly declined. The growth of Fostat and Cairo was accompanied by the destruction of all the stone buildings in Memphis for the sake of the materials, but the necropolis still bears witness to its former magnificence. The bull Apis (Egyp. Hapi ) (whose name is read in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] at   Jeremiah 46:15 ‘Why did Apis flee from thee?’) was worshipped at Memphis as sacred to Ptah (Hephaestus), the principal god of the city.

F. Ll. Griffith.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew of this is Moph,   Hosea 9:6 , and is judged to be the capital of lower or northern Egypt. It is called NOPH in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It was denounced in the prophets and given over to destruction.  Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 2:16;  Jeremiah 44:1;  Jeremiah 46:14,19;  Ezekiel 30:13,16 .

Memphis was one of the earliest cities of Egypt, and was in the district where some of the largest works were raised. In hieroglyphics it was styled Men-nofre , interpreted 'abode of the good,' etc. Some of the early dynasties were Memphian, during which the city rose to eminence. Its downfall was predicted by Ezekiel, "Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt."  Ezekiel 30:13 . This was uttered about B.C. 570, and it was about B.C. 526 that Cambyses conquered Egypt. Enraged by the opposition he had encountered at Memphis, according to Herodotus, he committed great ravages in the city, scourged the priests, made sport of their gods, and burnt them. Memphis did not recover this attack, and its site was for a long while unknown. It is now held to have been on the west of the Nile, about 29 53' N, where a few relies have been discovered.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Memphis ( Mĕm'Phis ), In Hebrew Noph, Place Of Phtah. An ancient royal city of lower Egypt. From the ancient hieroglyphic name Ma-M-Phtah came the Hebrew "Moph,"  Hosea 9:6, and "Noph," and the Greek form "Memphis."  Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 2:16;  Jeremiah 44:1;  Ezekiel 30:13;  Ezekiel 30:16. Memphis is said to have been about 19 miles in circumference. Its overthrow was distinctly predicted by the Hebrew prophets;  Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 46:19; and it never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by Cambyses, 525 b.c. After the founding of Alexandria, Memphis rapidly fell into decay. It is now marked by mounds of rubbish, a colossal statue sunk deep in the ground, and a few fragments of granite.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

The ancient Egyptian city of Memphis, though not in existence today, was situated on almost the same site as the present-day city of Cairo; that is, on the Nile River, about 180 kilometres from its mouth. It was the administrative centre of the first king to unite Upper and Lower Egypt (about 3000 BC), and was capital of Egypt for much of the period before Abraham. It continued to be an important city up till the time of its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC ( Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 44:1;  Jeremiah 46:14;  Jeremiah 46:19;  Ezekiel 30:13;  Hosea 9:6). (For map and other details see Egypt .)

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A city of Egypt, the residence of the ancient kings. The prophets often notice it. ( Isaiah 19:13;  Jeremiah 44:1; Jer 46:14;  Hosea 9:6) It is derived from Moph, signifying by the mouth.

Holman Bible Dictionary

There remains little, architecturally, to attest to the glory and grandeur once enjoyed by the city. As the Moslems began to build Cairo, they raided the buildings of Memphis for material, even dismantling the temple of Ptah, which probably was the largest and most opulent structure in the city.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Hosea 9:6 Isaiah 19:13 Jeremiah 2:16 46:14,19 Ezekiel 30:13,16

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Hosea 9:6 . See Noph .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

See Noph .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Mem´phis, a very ancient city, the capital of Lower Egypt, standing at the apex of the Delta, ruins of which are still found not far from its successor and modern representative, Cairo. Its Egyptian name, in the hieroglyphics, is Menofri; in Coptic, Memfi, Manfi, Membe, Panoufi or Mefi, being probably corrupted from Man-nofri, 'the abode,' or, as Plutarch terms it, 'the haven of good men.' It was called also Pthah-ei, the abode of Pthah. In Hebrew the city bears the name of Moph , or Noph . These several names are obviously variations of one, of which Meph seems to contain the essential sounds. Whether we may hence derive support to the statement that the place was founded by Menes, the first human king of Egypt, or whether we have here a very early instance of the custom which prevailed so extensively among the Greeks and Romans, of inventing founders for cities, having names correspondent with the names of the places they were said to have built, it is impossible, with the materials we possess, to determine with any fair approach to certainty. Menes, however, is universally reputed to have founded not only Memphis but Thebes; the addition of the latter may seem to invalidate his claim to the former, making us suspect that here, too, we have a case of that custom of referring to someone distinguished name great events which happened, in truth, at different and far distant eras. If, as is probable, Thebes as well as Memphis was, at any early period, the seat of a distinct dynasty, the cradle and the throne of a line of independent sovereigns, they could scarcely have had one founder.

Memphis is said to have been founded by Menes, who, according to tradition, having diverted the course of the Nile, which had washed the foot of the sandy mountains of the Libyan chain, obliged it to run in the center of the valley, and built the city Memphis in the bed of the ancient channel. This change was effected by constructing a dyke about, a hundred stadia above the site of the projected city, whose lofty mounds and strong embankments turned the water to the East and confined the river to its new bed. The dyke was carefully kept in repair by succeeding kings, and even as late as the Persian invasion, a guard was always maintained there to overlook the necessary repairs; for, as Herodotus asserts, if the river were to break through the dyke, the whole of Memphis would be in danger of being overwhelmed with water, especially at the period of the inundation. Subsequently, however, when the increased deposit of the alluvial soil had raised the circumjacent plains, the precautions became unnecessary; and though the spot where the diversion of the Nile was made may still be traced, owing to the great bend it takes about fourteen miles above ancient Memphis, the lofty mounds once raised there are no longer visible. The site of Memphis was first accurately fixed by Pococke, at the village of Metrahenny. According to the reports of the French, the heaps which mark the site of the ancient buildings have three leagues of circumference; but this is less than its extent in early times, since Diodorus gives it 150 stadia, or six leagues and a quarter. Memphis declined after the foundation of Alexandria, and its materials were carried off to build Cairo.

The kingdom of which Memphis was the capital was most probably the Egypt of the patriarchs, in which Abraham, Jacob, and the Israelites resided. Psammetichus, in becoming sole monarch of all Egypt raised Memphis to the dignity of the one metropolis of the entire land, after which Memphis grew in the degree in which Thebes declined. It became distinguished for a multitude of splendid edifices, among which may be mentioned a large and magnificent temple to Vulcan, who was called by the Egyptians Phthah, the demiurgos, or creative power. Under the dominion of the Persians, as well as of the Ptolemies, Memphis retained its pre-eminence as the capital, though even in the time of the former it began to part with its splendor; and when the latter bestowed their favor on Alexandria, it suffered a material change for the worse, from which the place never recovered. In the days of Strabo many of its fine buildings lay in ruins, though the city was still large and populous. The final blow was given to the prosperity of Memphis in the time of Abdollatif, by the erection of the Arabian city of Cairo.

That the arts were carried to a great degree of excellence at Memphis is proved by the most abundant evidence. Its manufactures of glass were famed for the superior quality of their workmanship, with which Rome continued to be supplied long after Egypt became a province of the empire. The environs of Memphis presented cultivated groves of the acacia tree, of whose wood were made the planks and masts of boats, the handles of offensive weapons of war, and various articles of furniture. Memphis was also distinguished as being the place where Apis was kept, and where his worship received special honor.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mem´fis  :

The ancient capital of Egypt, 12 miles South of the modern Cairo. This Greek and Roman form of the name was derived from the Coptic form Menfi (now Arabic Menf ), the abbreviation of the Egyptian name Men - nofer , "the good haven." This name was applied to the pyramid of Pepy I, in the cemetery above the city; some have thought the city name to have been derived from the pyramid, but this is unlikely, as the city must have had a regular name before that. It may perhaps mean "the excellence of Mena," its founder. It appears still more shortened in Hos (  Hosea 9:6 ) as Moph ( mōph ), and in Isa ( Isaiah 19:13 ), Jer ( Jeremiah 2:16 ), and Ezek ( Ezekiel 30:13 ) as Noph ( nōph ).

The classical statements show that the city in Roman times was about 8 miles long and 4 miles wide, and the indications of the site agree with this. It was the sole capital of Position Egypt from the Ist to the Xvii th Dynasty; it shared supremacy with Thebes during the Xviii th to Xxv th Dynasties, and with Sais to the Xxx th Dynasty. Alexandria then gradually obscured it, but the governor of Egypt signed the final capitulation to the Arabs in the old capital. While other cities assumed a political equality, yet commercially Memphis probably remained supreme until the Ptolemies.

The oldest center of settlement was probably the shrine of the sacred bull, Apis or Hapy, which was in the South of the city. This worship was doubtless prehistoric, so that when the first king of all Egypt, Mena, founded his capital, there was already a nucleus. His great work was taking in land to the North, and founding the temple of the dynastic god Ptah, which was extended until its enclosure included as much as the great temple of Amon at Thebes, about 3 furlongs long and 2 furlongs wide. To the North of this was the sacred lake; beyond that, the palace and camp. Gradually the fashionable quarters moved northward in Egypt, in search of fresher air; the rulers had moved 10 miles North to Babylon by Roman times, then to Fostat, then Cairo, and lastly now to Abbasiyeh and Kubkeh, altogether a shift of 18 miles in 8,000 years.

After the shrine of Apis the next oldest center is that of Ptah, founded by Mena. This was recently cleared in yearly sections by the British School, finding principally sculptures of the Xviii th and Xix th Dynasties. The account of the north gate given by Herodotus, that it was built by Amenemhat III, has been verified by finding his name on the lintel. An immense sphinx of alabaster 26 ft. long has also been found. To the East of this was the temple of the foreign quarter, the temple of King Proteus in Greek accounts, where foreign pottery and terra cotta heads have been found. Other temples that are known to have existed in Memphis are those of Hathor, Neit, Amen, Imhotep, Isis, Osiris-Sokar, Khnumu, Bastel, Tahuti, Anubis and Sebek.

A large building of King Siamen (XXIst Dynasty) has been found South of the Ptah temple. To the North of the great temple lay the fortress, and in it the palace mound of the Xxvi th Dynasty covered two acres. It has been completely cleared, but the lower part is still to be examined. The north end of it was at least 90 ft. high, of brickwork, filled up to half the height by a flooring raised on cellular brickwork. The great court was about 110 ft. square, and its roof was supported by 16 columns 45 ft. high.

The principal sights of Memphis now are the great colossus of Rameses II, the lesser colossus of the same, and the immense alabaster sphinx. The cemetery of the city is the most important in Egypt; it lies 2 miles to the West on the desert, and is known as Saqqareh, from So-kar, the god of the dead. See Saqqareh .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Memphis'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/m/memphis.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

An ancient city of Egypt, of which it was the capital; it was founded by Menes at the apex of the delta of the Nile, and contained 700,000 inhabitants.