Diodorus and Strabo speak highly of its power and opulence:—"Never was there a city," observes the former of these, "which received so many offerings in silver, gold, obelisks, and colossal statues."
The first shock this city received was from the Persians[358]. Cambyses, having invaded Egypt, sent a herald to Memphis, to summon the inhabitants to surrender. The people, however, transported with rage, fell upon the herald, and tore him to pieces, and all that were with him. Cambyses, having soon after taken the place, fully revenged the indignity, causing ten times as many Egyptians of the prime nobility, as there had been of his people massacred, to be publicly executed. Among these was the eldest son of Psammenitus. As for the king himself, Cambyses was inclined to treat him kindly. He not only spared his life, but appointed him an honourable maintenance. But the Egyptian monarch, little affected by this kind usage, did what he could to raise new troubles and commotions, in order to recover his kingdom; as a punishment for which he was made to drink bull's blood, and died immediately. His reign lasted but six months; after which all Egypt submitted to the conqueror.
When the tyrant came back from Thebes, he dismissed all the Greeks, and sent them to their respective homes; but on his return into the city, finding it full of rejoicing, he fell into a great rage, supposing all this to have been for the ill success of his expedition. He therefore called the magistrates before him, to know the meaning of these rejoicings; and upon their telling him that it was because they had found their god, Apis, he would not believe them; but caused them to be put to death, as impostors, that insulted him in his misfortunes. And when he sent for the priests, who made him the same answer, he replied, that since their god was so kind and familiar as to appear among them, he would be acquainted with him, and therefore commanded him forthwith to be brought to him. But when, instead of a god be saw a calf, he was strangely astonished, and falling again into a rage, he drew out his dagger, and run it into the thigh of the beast; and then upbraiding the priests for their stupidity in worshipping a brute for a god, ordered them to be severely whipped, and all the Egyptians in Memphis, that should be found celebrating the feast of Apis, to be slain. The god was carried back to the temple, where he languished for some time and then died. The Egyptians say, that after this fact, which they reckon the highest instance of impiety that ever was committed among them, Cambyses grew mad. But his actions show that he had been mad long before.
The splendour of Upper Egypt terminated with the invasion of Cambyses. He carried with him not only conquest, but destruction. His warfare was not merely with the people, but with their palaces and temples.
At a subsequent period, Memphis was taken by Alexander. The account we give of that event is from the same author[359]. As soon as Alexander had ended the siege of Gaza, he left a garrison there, and turned the whole power of his army towards Egypt. In seven days' march he arrived before Pelusium, whither a great number of Egyptians had assembled, with all imaginable diligence, to recognize him for their sovereign. The hatred these people bore to the Persians was so great, that they valued very little who should be their king, provided they could but meet with a hero, to rescue them from the insolence and indignity with which themselves, and those who professed their religion, were treated. Ochus had caused their god Apis to be murdered, in a manner highly injurious to themselves and their religion; and the Persians, to whom he had left the government, continued to make the same mock of that deity. Thus several circumstances had rendered the Persians so odious, that upon Amyntas's coming a little before with a handful of men, he found them prepared to join, and assist him in expelling the Persians.
This Amyntas had deserted from Alexander, and entered into the service of Darius. He had commanded the Grecian forces at the battle of Issus; and having fled into Syria, by the country lying toward Tripoli, with four thousand men, he had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and immediately set sail towards the island of Cyprus, and afterwards towards Pelusium, which he took by surprise. As soon as he found himself possessed of this important city, he threw off the mask, and made public pretensions to the crown of Egypt; declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this, a multitude of Egyptians, who wished for nothing so earnestly as to free themselves from these insupportable tyrants, went over to him. He then marched directly to Memphis, when, coming to a battle, he defeated the Persians, and shut them up in the city. But, after he had gained the victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers together, they straggled up and down in search of plunder, which the enemy seeing, they sallied out upon such as remained, and cut them to pieces, with Amyntas their leader. This event, so far from lessening the aversion the Egyptians had for the Persians, increased it still more; so that the moment Alexander appeared upon the frontiers, the people, who were all disposed to receive that monarch, ran in crowds to submit to him. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with a secure protection, which Amyntas could not afford them; and, from this consideration, they all declared openly in his favour. Mazæus, who commanded in Memphis, finding it would be to no purpose for him to resist so triumphant an army, since Darius, his sovereign, was not in a condition to succour him, set open the gates of the city to the conqueror, and gave up eight hundred talents, (about £140,000,) and all the king's furniture. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt, without the least opposition.
On the founding of Alexandria by the Macedonian conqueror, Memphis lost the honour of being the metropolis of Egypt; and its history became so obscure, that little knowledge of it is preserved in history. We must, therefore, now content ourselves with stating to what a condition it is now reduced.
Of this celebrated city, which, according to Diodorus Siculus, was not less than seven leagues in circumference, and contained a multitude of beautiful temples, not one stone remains to tell the history; even the site on which it stood being disputed. "Is it not astonishing," says Savary, "that the site of the ancient metropolis of Egypt, a city containing magnificent temples and palaces, which art laboured to render eternal, should at present be a subject of dispute among the learned? Pliny removes the difficulty of past doubts—the three grand pyramids, seen by the watermen from all parts, stand on a barren and rocky hill, between Memphis and Delta, one league from the Nile, two from Memphis, and near the village of Busiris." Rennell, however, says, that Memf is on the site of Memphis; since Abulfeda describes it as being a short day's journey from Cairo: Memf being only fourteen road miles from that city. M. Maillet says, "The most probable opinion is, that this superb city was built at the entrance of the town of mummies, at the north of which the pyramids are placed: the prodigious ruins which present themselves in this spot will serve for a long time as proofs of the greatness of that city, of which they are remains, and the incontestible evidences of its true position." Again, he says, that "out of so many superb monuments, &c., there remain only at present some shapeless ruins of broken columns of ruined obelisks, and some other buildings fallen to decay, which one still discovers at the bottom of the lake, when the increase of the Nile is too small to furnish it with its usual supply of water. This circumstance has twice happened during my seventeen years' consulship, particularly in the year 1677, when the surface of the lake sank between eight and nine feet, and discovered at the bottom of this vast reservoir a kind of city, which excited the admiration of every one. This lake can never be dried up, or drawn off again as before; because they have neglected to keep up the canal which served to drain off the water. There are, also, some heaps of ruins in the plain of three leagues in width, that separates the northern from the southern pyramids, and in which this ancient city extended from the borders of the lake towards the Nile eastward. These are the faint traces of so much magnificence."
Dr. Shaw is of opinion that Djizeh, or Giseh, now occupies the site of Memphis; and that the city is entirely buried in soil. Other authorities, however, place it, and perhaps with greater probability, near the village of Menshee or Dashoo. Norden says: "If we give credit to some authors, the city of Memphis was situated in the place where at present stands the village of Gize, and I own that this opinion does not want probability. But if we attend to it carefully, we shall find it necessary to strike off a great deal of grandeur of that ancient capital of Egypt, or else raise extremely all the plains about it. In effect, Gize does not occupy half the space of Old Cairo, and the plains that extend all round never fail to be deluged at the time of the overflowing of the waters of the Nile. It is incredible, that they should have built a city, so great and famous, in a place subject to be under water half of the year; still less can it be imagined that the ancient authors have forgotten so particular a place."
Mr. Browne says: "I visited the pleasant site of the ancient Memphis on the left bank of the Nile, about two hours to the south of Kahira, in a plain about three miles broad, between the river and the mountains. The land is now laid down in corn, with date-trees toward the mountains. Nothing remains except heaps of rubbish, in which are found pieces of sculptured stone. The spot has been surrounded by a canal. Its extent might be marked by that of the ground where remains are dug up, and which is always overgrown with a kind of thistle, that seems to thrive among the ruins. None of the fine marbles, which are scattered so profusely at Alexandria, are discoverable here; whether it be that they were never used, or were carried away to adorn other cities."[360]