Abstract
The foundation and formation of Memphis, the earliest capital of Egypt, are among the mysteries of Egyptology that are still awaiting for their solution. The main difficulty that the researchers have been facing up to nowadays is the lack of archaeological material. That is why the modern scholars, just like a hundred years ago, often have to rely in their research on written sources, particularly — Herodotus’ “Egyptian Logos”, where he describes the so-called static model (Herod. II, 99). Basing on this model, the German Egyptologist K. Sethe in 1905 developed a theory, according to which Memphis had been founded in the apex of the Nile delta around 3000 BC by the king Menes. K. Sethe believed the united centralized state had emerged as a result of the victory of the powerful Upper Egyptian kingdom over the Lower Egyptian one that had been located in the Delta, and it is when the royal headquarters had moved from Upper Egyptian Abydos (Thin) to the northern White Walls fortress, which had become a core of the future capital. However, once the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century brought a lot of newer, mostly archaeological, data, the conclusions and suggestions of the German Egyptologist now need corrections. In particular, modern researchers understand the nature and role of the early Egyptian state and Memphis as its supposed capital the very different way. Some aspects of this issue will be covered in this article.
Keywords
Memphis, Abydos, Herodotus, K. Sethe, the origin of the Egyptian state, Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt.
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