Definition:
Memphis, located 24 km south of Cairo, was an ancient pharaonic capital city of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Menes is said to have been the founder of Memphis in the early 3rd millennium B.C. In the New Kingdom, Memphis served as a second, northern capital city for Egypt, when Thebes was capital in the south. In 322 B.C., Alexander the Great headquartered in Memphis while in Egypt. Giza and Saqqara are west of Memphis.
Source:
"Memphis, Egypt" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Timothy Darvill. Oxford University Press, 2008.
