Memphis before the New Kingdom

Memphis: Before the New Kingdom

The founding of the city was ascribed by Herodutus to a king Min, who is said to have had canals dug to protect the city and built the temple of Hephaestus (=Ptah). The site of the earliest settlement was not known for a long time, but recent research has indicated that it was located near modern Abusir. Through changes of the river the site of the city seems to have been moved over the centuries (see a movie, click here). Little is known about the city in the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC). There is a small cemetery at modern Mit Rahina (later Memphis) dating to the First Intermediate Period, making it possible that the main city moved already in the First Intermediate Period is later place. Several blocks from annals of king Amenemhat II found in Memphis might originally come from his pyramid temple at Dahshur and not from Memphis itself.

the development in the Old Kingdom	the annal stone (translation)

	Petrie 1909a: pl. 5

The other fragment of the annal stone: