Memphis, situated on the west bank of the Nile, 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of Cairo, close to the Saqqara necropolis was the administrative capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, part of the Middle and New Kingdoms, during the Late Period, and then again in the Ptolemaic period. During the Roman period, the importance of Memphis in the spheres of commerce and administration began to decline as the Romans favored the fortress town of Babylon, the location of present-day Cairo. Babylon afforded the Romans better control of their trade networks. After the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, the garrison city of Fustat (also part of present-day Cairo), incorporated Babylon and became the first Muslim capital of Egypt, and ultimately, the Cairo we have today. With religious, commercial, and administrative centers firmly established in the Cairo area, the once-thriving metropolis of Memphis ultimately, disappeared below the village of Mit-Rahina and surrounding farmland.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Memphis was founded by Menes, the legendary unifier of Egypt and its first Dynastic ruler (c. 3100 BC). The name Memphis possibly derives from the Pyramid and mortuary temple of Pepy I at Saqqara called Men-nefer meaning ���fixed and beautiful���. Hence, Memphis in Greek and Manf in Arabic. Other names for the city used during Pharaonic times were indw-hedj, ���White Walls��� or ���White Fortress���, and ���Hwt-ka-Ptah���, meaning, ���Temple for Ka of Ptah���, or, ���House of the Ka of Ptah���. This name is the most enduring legacy of Memphis because the Greeks pronounced ���Hwt-ka-Ptah��� as Aegyptus (Aigyptos), which later became Egypt.

Old Kingdom (c. 2686 ��� 2160 BC)