Lost Cities - Memphis, Egypt

Memphis.
Jeremiah's prophecy that "Memphis shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant" certainly came true. With Alexandria's rise to glory the old city of Memphis was abandoned and left to the ravages of the desert and time' fulfilled itself. There is little left of the magnificent city once a capital of Egypt but some ruins.
Memphis is the Greek name for Inebou-Hedjou,the city on the border between Upper and Lower-Egypt. The city was founded by Menes ( Narmer ) after the unification of Egypt. Memphis was where the cult of the god Ptah was born. As a result there were numerous temples built for him , his wife Sekhmet and their son – Nefertem which now lie in ruins. It is from one of these temples, Hw.t-kA-PtH (Hut-Ka-Ptah) "the mansion of the Ka of Ptah" that the Greeks derived the name Aegyptos, hence the modern name Egypt.

According to the Shabaka Stone Ptah was the one who called the world into being after having dreamt of creation. His name means ' the opener of the mouth' and it's said that the 'mouth ceremony' , performed by priests at funerals in order to release souls from their corpses, have been created by Ptah himself.

Sekhmet was one of the two lioness-headed deities. She was created by the fire of Re's eye as representation of war and destruction. Re created her as a weapon of vengeance for mankind's disobedience. To placate Sekhmet Egyptians were required to perform a ritual twice a day (morning and afternoon) every day. This ritual revolved around more than 700 statues of the goddess. Sekhmet is also known as the Goddess of the West while her sister Bastet was known to be the Goddess of the East. The only difference in appereance between the two was that Sekhmet was said to wear red while Bastet wore green.

Nefertum was a blue lotusflower at the creation of the world. He represented the 'first sunlight'.He was the god of perfume and luck.

At Memphis once stood a series of colossal statues of the great Ramses II. Now only two remain. One is located in Cairo near the train station and the other here at Memphis laying on the ground in a covered pavilion. The red granite statue once measured almost 40 feet but has been damaged with its lower legs and feet missing.

Another magnificent statue that can be seen in Memphis is of a sphinx carved from a solid piece of alabaster. The sphinx measures approximately 13 feet high and 24 feet long and weighs an estimated 80 tons. It is believed to date to the era of Amon Ofis II and, with many others, once flanked the temple of Ptah.

Memphis is one of the most famous ancient lost cities. If you are already fascinated by it's passed glory and considering a trip – pick up the phone and make a tour reservation now. Online bookings can often fail you so I'd recommend using a call service that provides cheap calls to Egypt . Enjoy.