|
|
| |
| |
Memphis
|
| |
The present situation of the ancient capital of Egypt
could hardly be put more cogently, for very little of
the former glory of the metropolis remains.
A few colossal royal statues, the great alabaster
sphinx, the embalming house of the Apis bulls, and the
remains of the great temple of Ptah can still be seen
among palm groves near the village of Mitrahina, some 12
½ miles (20 km) south of Cairo. Founded as a royal
citadel in the Early Dynastic period, Memphis rose to
become the undisputed center of the country under the
Old Kingdom.
It lay on the dividing line between Upper and Lower
Egypt, was the formal capital of the first nome of Lower
Egypt, and was also known as “the balance of the Two
Lands.” The Greek name Memphis derives from Men-nefer-Pepi,
the name of the pyramid town and the pyramid of Pepy I
(6th Dynasty) at Saqqara. The turbulent history of the
city continued into the 12th / 13th centuries A.D., when
Memphis finally fell victim to intensive plundering of
its stone for buildings in Cairo.
Modern excavations in the old city area still take
place, but now have to contend with a groundwater level
much higher than in the past, and with increasing
settlement of the area
|
| |
| |
The temple of Path |
|
| |
The Creator god Path was venerated as the patron deity
of Memphis. With the lion headed goddess Sekhmet
and the lotus flower god Nefertem , he was a member of
the city scared triad.
The temple of path was one of the largest temple
complexes in Egypt, but it was so totally destroyed that
not even its ground plan can now be made out.
Only the mighty western hall built by Ramesses II can to
some extent be reconstructed, It marked
the western entrance to the temple precinct, inside
which there was a pylon, and beyond the pylon a
hypostyle hall with 16 papyrus columns arranged in four
rows at the center, and surrounded by lower columns.
The temple it self, over 186 ft (300m) in length,
adjoined the hall to east, and it seems likely that all
major rules from the old kingdom onward turned their
minds to making additions.
As late as the Ptolemaic period the entire
precinct was surrounded by a gigantic trapezoid
enclosure wall , maximum measurements
2067x1574(630x480m)
|
 
|
| |
| |
| |
The Alabaster Sphinx |
|
|
The mighty proportions of the temple of Ptah called for
comparably impressive sculptural ornamentation of the
pylons and courtyard layouts.
The garden of monuments at Memphis contains the colossal
calcite figure of a sphinx found in 1912 by the famous
archeologist W.M flinders Petrie not far from its
present location.
The severe damage to the right side is the result of the
long term effect of ground water.
The ruler's head is enveloped in royal head cloth with
Uraeus on his forehead, while a plaited divine beard
rolled up at the end is attached to the chain.
since there is no inscription on either the breast
or the plinth, the sphinx can be dated only by stylistic
criteria, which suggest that Amenophis 2 (18th
dynasty) was the pharaoh concerned.
in Spite of its monumental size and weight (28x14 ft,
8.70x470m 80 tonnes) the sphinx was probably one of the
axis of the temple in the court yard or at one of the
entrance.
As other statues found in Memphis , the sphinx shows
some server water damage too
|
 
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
