Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

B^ i. RUINS OF MEMPHIS 21

Greeks altered to Memphis, the Copts to Memphi, and
the cuneiform inscriptions render Mimpi. The last
trace of the old name is preserved in Tell-el-Monf, the
modern designation of a heap of ruins close to the for-
mer royal residence of the first Pharaohs. More rarely
!t was called Kha-nefer, the ' good appearance,' or
Makhata, the ' land of the scales,' and frequently by the
sacred appellation of Ha-kha-Ptah, ' house of worship
°f Ptah,' who often bears the additional title of Seker
or Sekari, traces of which seem to be preserved in the
name of the modern village Saqqarak, near the ancient
oity of Memphis. The wife of the god, a lion-headed
goddess adorned with the sun's disk, bore the name of
Sekhet, whose son, Nefer-atmu, or Im-hotep, was the
Asclepios of Egyptian mythology.

AH that now remains of this celebrated city con-
sists of heaps of overthrown and shattered columns,
altars, and sculptures which once belonged to the
temples of Memphis, and of a far-extended line of
mounds of debris.

The temple of Ptah lay on the south side of the
salt-encrusted plain which stretches between the
'Swine's Hill,' Kum-el-Ehanzir, on the east, and the
little Arab village of El-Qassarieh on the west. Its
length lies from north to south, and the mighty statue of
■Kamses II. shows where the splendid gate of the temple
once stood. The former existence of the sacred lake to
tne north is proved by the inscription upon the statue.

In the immediate neighbourhood of the village of
Jil-Qassarieh (which means ' wash-pot') are shown the
broken remains and columns of a temple, the inscrip-
tions on which declare Eamses II. to be its founder
and builder. The chief axis was from east to west,
and it was built of polished blocks of granite and
alabaster, in honour of the divine Ptah.