Landmark Africa
Memphis
Memphis was the first big capital city of ancient Egypt. Kings lived there long, long ago. The famous pyramids were built in the desert nearby.
Memphis was the capital of Egypt in the time of the first great pyramids, more than 4,000 years ago. It stood on the west side of the Nile, about 24 kilometers south of modern Cairo. Kings, priests, craftworkers and traders lived there, and its rulers were buried in pyramids and tombs along the desert edge, from Giza to Dahshur.
Founded, by later tradition, around 2900 to 3000 BCE, Memphis commanded the entrance to the Nile Delta and was Egypt's administrative capital in the Old Kingdom and again in later periods, until Fustat and Cairo eclipsed it. Little survives above ground at Mit Rahina, but its necropolis, from Giza to Dahshur, holds more than 38 pyramids; UNESCO listed both in 1979.
Photo: © Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Memphis
Memphis is in Egypt, beside the long Nile River.
Long ago, it was a busy city where kings lived. Today, most of it is hidden under a village and palm trees. Big stone statues of a king can still be seen there.
Memphis was a city of ancient Egypt on the west side of the Nile River, just south of the place where the river spreads out into its delta. Today its ruins lie near the village of Mit Rahina, about 24 kilometers south of Cairo.
UNESCO calls Memphis the first capital of ancient Egypt. Its spot was perfect for ruling the whole country: it guarded the way into the delta and sat where important trade routes met. Along the desert edge to the west lies its necropolis, a huge area of tombs, with the pyramids of Giza at one end and Dahshur at the other. The Giza pyramids have their own pages.
Memphis lay south of the Nile Delta on the west bank, about 24 km (15 miles) south of modern Cairo; UNESCO places it in the center of the floodplain. Commanding the entrance to the Delta at the meeting of trade routes, UNESCO argues, it had no possible rival as a capital for any ruler of both Upper and Lower Egypt.
The city is inseparable from its cemeteries. Britannica lists the main pyramid fields from north to south as Abu Ruwaysh, Giza, Zawiyat al-Aryan, Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur. UNESCO inscribed Memphis and its Necropolis, the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur, in 1979: more than 38 pyramids and more than 9,000 rock-cut tombs from the 1st to the 30th Dynasty and the Graeco-Roman period. This page is about the city; the pyramids have their own pages.
- Where
- West bank of the Nile, about 24 km south of Cairo
- Capital of
- Egypt's Old Kingdom, and in later periods
- Pyramids in its necropolis
- more than 38
- World Heritage Site
- 1979, with its necropolis
Capital for thousands of years
Memphis is very, very old.
For hundreds of years, kings ruled Egypt from there. Later, other cities became capitals, but Memphis stayed important. Many different people came to live and trade there.
According to later tradition, Memphis was founded about 5,000 years ago, when Upper and Lower Egypt were joined into one kingdom. Its first name was the White Walls, perhaps because the king's palace was built of brick painted white.
Memphis was Egypt's capital during the Old Kingdom, the age of the great pyramids, and at times afterward. Kings kept adding to its great temple. Over the centuries, armies from Nubia, Assyria and Persia came to Memphis, and Alexander the Great made it his headquarters in 332 BCE while he planned the new city of Alexandria. Much later, the new city of Cairo grew nearby, and Memphis faded.
Britannica reports the later tradition that Menes founded Memphis about 2900 BCE when he united Upper and Lower Egypt; UNESCO gives the traditional date as 3000 BC. Its first name, the White Walls, may first have meant the king's whitewashed brick palace. Manetho, writing in the 3rd century BCE, calls the 3rd and 4th Dynasties Memphite, and the vast royal tombs nearby bear that out.
In the Middle Kingdom the royal residence moved to Itj-tawy, but Memphite influence remained strong; in the New Kingdom Memphis probably served as the northern capital. The Nubian king Piye besieged and took it in the 8th century BCE, the Assyrians sacked it under Esarhaddon, Cambyses II of Persia took it in 525 BCE, and Alexander used it as his headquarters in 332 BCE. Under the Ptolemies it kept a large Greek population. UNESCO notes that it remained a capital, at times beside other cities, until it was eclipsed by Fustat and later Cairo.
A city of temples and workshops
Memphis had palaces for kings and big temples.
Around them were workshops where people made things. There were docks for boats and homes for families. A canal joined the city to the river.
The biggest building in Memphis was the great Temple of Ptah. Almost every king added to it or rebuilt it, and King Ramesses II set up several giant statues there.
Around the palaces and temples were workshops for craftworkers, dockyards for boats, storehouses for weapons and neighborhoods where people lived. Memphis was not right on the Nile, but a canal connected it to the river, so it was probably a busy trading city. People from other lands lived there too, and some parts of the city were named after them.
UNESCO counts the Temple of Ptah at Mit Rahina as the city's most important temple; Britannica describes nearly every 12th- and 18th-Dynasty king adding to or rebuilding it, and Ramesses II (reigned about 1279 to 1213 BCE) erecting several colossi in it. Kings of the 19th Dynasty also took blocks from older buildings, even pyramid complexes, to build anew.
UNESCO describes palaces, among them the surviving ruins of the palace of Apries overlooking the city, surrounded by craftsmen's workshops, dockyards, arsenals and residential quarters. Linked to the Nile by a canal, Memphis was probably a commercial center, and Britannica notes quarters named for foreign residents, such as the Field of the Hittites and, later, districts of Carians and Phoenicians. A 1st-millennium inscription of Piye describes fortified walls ringed by water.
What is left today
Most of Memphis is gone now.
Its houses and walls have disappeared. But giant stone statues were found there. Some are shown in an outdoor museum among the palm trees.
Very little of Memphis still stands. In the early 1900s, some ruined walls could still be seen, but they have since disappeared. Britannica says the only monument still above ground is a colossal statue of Ramesses II that once decorated the Temple of Ptah. UNESCO calls it an outstanding work.
Archaeologists began digging in the city in 1908. They found parts of the great temple and a palace. Big statues and carved stones from many digs are now shown in an outdoor museum at Mit Rahina.
The city lies near the village of Mit Rahina. Ruined walls visible at the start of the 20th century have since vanished, and Britannica names a colossal statue of Ramses II, which once adorned the great temple of Ptah, as the only monument above ground. UNESCO lists the great statue of Rameses II at Mit Rahina among the outstanding structures of the property.
Flinders Petrie excavated from 1908 to 1913 and uncovered sections of the temple, which were left exposed and soon disappeared. A University of Pennsylvania expedition found the palace of Merneptah in 1917 and dug parts of the great temple and a small temple of Ramesses II in 1955 and 1956. Since the 1980s the Egypt Exploration Society has surveyed the city's extent and growth. Large sculptures from many excavations stand in an outdoor museum at Mit Rahina.
- Modern village
- Mit Rahina
- First long excavation
- Flinders Petrie, 1908 to 1913
- Rock-cut tombs in the necropolis
- more than 9,000
The city of the dead next door
West of Memphis is the desert.
The kings of Memphis were buried there, in pyramids and tombs. Giant pyramids stand in a long line along the desert edge.
The people of Memphis buried their kings and officials in the desert to the west. This necropolis, or city of the dead, stretches for many kilometers, from Giza in the north to Dahshur in the south.
It holds more than 38 pyramids and more than 9,000 tombs cut into the rock. Here stand Egypt's first big stone building, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser at Saqqara, and the three great pyramids of Giza. Some tombs of officials have carved pictures of daily life: crafts, clothes and jobs. They show us how people at the court of Memphis lived.
The necropolis extends from the Giza plateau through Zawyet el-Aryan, Abu Ghurab, Abusir, Mit Rahina and Saqqara to Dahshur. UNESCO stresses that it records the development of royal tombs from the mastaba to the pyramid, beginning with Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first monumental stone building.
Around the royal pyramids lie the tombs of courtiers and officials. Britannica points out that so little of the city's houses and furniture survives that the daily-life reliefs in these tombs, showing crafts, costumes and occupations, are a key source for life at the court of Memphis. Egypt's pyramids, how they developed and the Giza group are covered on their own pages.
Amazing facts
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The name Egypt may come from an old name for Memphis.
One old name for part of Memphis, Hut-ka-Ptah, became Aigyptos in Greek. Later, that word was used for the whole country: Egypt!
Hut-ka-Ptah, a geographic name for Memphis, was rendered Aigyptos in Greek and later applied to the whole country.
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Memphis was first called the White Walls.
The city's first name was the White Walls. It may have meant the king's palace, built of bricks painted white.
The original name, the White Walls, may first have referred to the king's palace of whitewashed brick; Memphis comes from Men-nefer, the name of Pepi I's nearby pyramid.
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Alexander the Great stayed in Memphis.
Alexander the Great used Memphis as his headquarters while he planned the new city of Alexandria.
In 332 BCE Alexander made Memphis his headquarters while planning Alexandria; after his death his body rested there for a time before burial at Alexandria.
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Tomb pictures show what people did every day in Memphis.
Few houses from Memphis survive, so carved pictures in tombs are one of the best ways to learn about crafts, clothes and jobs there.
Because little domestic architecture survives, the daily-life reliefs of officials' tombs are a valuable record of the crafts, costumes and occupations of the Memphite court.
Words to know
- capital
- the city where a country's rulers live and govern
- necropolis
- a large ancient burial ground, a 'city of the dead'
- delta
- flat land where a river splits into many branches before reaching the sea
- colossus
- a statue that is much bigger than life size
- dynasty
- a series of rulers from the same family
- canal
- a waterway dug by people for boats or for water
Discovery challenge
-
Which river flows near Memphis?
Beside which river did Memphis stand?
On the west bank of which river, south of its delta, did Memphis lie?
- The Nile
- The Amazon
- The Thames
Show the answer
The Nile
The Nile! It is a very long river in Egypt.
The Nile. A canal connected the city to the river.
The Nile; Memphis commanded the entrance to the Delta.
-
What was Memphis long ago?
What was Memphis in Egypt's Old Kingdom?
What role did Memphis play during the Old Kingdom?
- The capital city
- A tiny fishing village
- A desert oasis
Show the answer
The capital city
The capital! Kings ruled Egypt from there.
It was Egypt's capital, in the age of the great pyramids.
The effective administrative capital, according to UNESCO, and again in later periods.
-
Whose giant statues were found at Memphis?
Which king set up giant statues of himself in Memphis's great temple?
Which 19th-Dynasty king erected several colossi in the temple of Ptah?
- Ramesses II
- Napoleon
- Alexander the Great
Show the answer
Ramesses II
King Ramesses II! He wore a tall crown.
Ramesses II. A colossal statue of him is the only monument still above ground at Memphis.
Ramesses II (about 1279 to 1213 BCE); one colossus survives at Mit Rahina.
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What is out in the desert near Memphis?
What fills Memphis's necropolis, from Giza to Dahshur?
What does UNESCO count more than 38 of in the necropolis of Memphis?
- Pyramids
- Castles
- Lighthouses
Show the answer
Pyramids
Pyramids! Kings were buried in them.
Pyramids and tombs: more than 38 pyramids and more than 9,000 rock-cut tombs.
Pyramids, including those of Giza, Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur.
Nearby places
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Egyptian pyramids
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Giza pyramid complex
The Giza pyramid complex is a group of ancient tombs on a rocky plateau beside the Nile River in Egypt. Three kings from one family, Khufu, his son Khafre and his grandson Menkaure, built huge pyramids there about 4,500 years ago. Around them are temples, small pyramids for queens, rows of tombs for nobles, the Great Sphinx and even the town where the builders lived.
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Great Pyramid of Giza
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Landmark
Egyptian pyramids
Egypt's pyramids were giant stone tombs for kings. They did not start out pointed: the first, King Djoser's Step Pyramid, was a stack of six giant steps. King Snefru's builders tried again and again, making the Bent Pyramid and then the Red Pyramid, the first planned true pyramid. Soon after came the great pyramids of Giza.
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Watch
Landmark
Giza pyramid complex
The Giza pyramid complex is a group of ancient tombs on a rocky plateau beside the Nile River in Egypt. Three kings from one family, Khufu, his son Khafre and his grandson Menkaure, built huge pyramids there about 4,500 years ago. Around them are temples, small pyramids for queens, rows of tombs for nobles, the Great Sphinx and even the town where the builders lived.
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Watch
Landmark
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built more than 4,500 years ago as the tomb of King Khufu of Egypt. About 2.3 million stone blocks were cut, moved and stacked to make it. Egypt's antiquities ministry calls it the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.
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City
Cairo
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, has stood on the banks of the Nile for more than 1,000 years, where the river spreads out into its delta. Founded in 969, it has a medieval old city full of historic mosques and markets, the Egyptian Museum and, at its edge, the Pyramids of Giza. It is one of the largest cities in Africa.
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Natural wonder
Nile
The Nile flows north through northeastern Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, and its basin is shared by 11 countries. Its length is usually given as about 6,650 kilometers. Two great branches, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, meet at Khartoum in Sudan, and the green strip of farmland along its banks made it the lifeline of ancient Egypt.
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Byblos
Byblos, on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, is one of the oldest towns in the world where people have lived without a break. Its ruins stack up like layers of a cake: fishermen's huts, Phoenician temples and walls, a Roman theater and a Crusader castle. The Phoenician alphabet developed here.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Memphis on the Nile and explain why its position made it a good capital.
- Describe what a capital city of ancient Egypt contained: temples, palaces, workshops and docks.
- Explain how archaeologists learn about a city that has almost disappeared.
- Connect Memphis with its necropolis of pyramids and tombs.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Almost all of Memphis has vanished, but its stone tombs survive. Why might stone tombs last longer than a city's houses?
- Why do you think rulers chose a spot where the river meets the delta for their capital?
- Later kings reused stones from older buildings. Is it good or bad to reuse old buildings? Why?
Try at home or in class
- On a map of Egypt, draw the Nile and its delta, then mark Memphis just where the delta begins.
- Make a small statue from clay or play dough wearing a tall crown, then stand it on a block base like the one in the photo.
Key vocabulary: capital, necropolis, delta, colossus, dynasty, canal
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Memphis , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Memphis: Later history , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Memphis: Archaeology , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Memphis and its Necropolis: the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.