Difference between revisions of "Memphis"

<p> [[Capital]] of Lower Egypt, on the W. or left bank of the Nile. [[Hebrew]] "Νowph " (&nbsp;Isaiah 19:13). "Μowph ," or [[Memphis]] (&nbsp;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'' . </p> <p> "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, '' &nbsp;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. </p> <p> "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. </p> <p> 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, '' &nbsp;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)'' . </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;Jeremiah 46:20) alludes to Apis, "Egypt is like a very fair heifer." </p> <p> 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 &nbsp;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. </p> <p> The [[Hyksos]] or shepherd kings (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Jeremiah 46:19), "Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant "(compare &nbsp;Jeremiah 43:10). Ezekiel, 575 B.C. (&nbsp;Ezekiel 30:13; &nbsp;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. </p>

<p> [[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," &nbsp;Hosea 9:6, and "Noph," and the Greek form "Memphis." &nbsp;Isaiah 19:13; &nbsp;Jeremiah 2:16; &nbsp;Jeremiah 44:1; &nbsp;Ezekiel 30:13; &nbsp;Ezekiel 30:16. Memphis is said to have been about 19 miles in circumference. Its overthrow was distinctly predicted by the Hebrew prophets; &nbsp;Isaiah 19:13; &nbsp;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. </p>

<p> ''''' mem´fis ''''' : </p> <p> 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 <i> ''''' Menfi ''''' </i> (now Arabic <i> ''''' Menf ''''' </i> ), the abbreviation of the Egyptian name <i> ''''' Men ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' nofer ''''' </i> , "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 (&nbsp; Hosea 9:6 ) as Moph ( <i> '''''mōph''''' </i> ), and in Isa (&nbsp;Isaiah 19:13 ), Jer (&nbsp;Jeremiah 2:16 ), and Ezek (&nbsp;Ezekiel 30:13 ) as Noph ( <i> '''''nōph''''' </i> ). </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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 . </p>