Memphis was believed to be under the protection of the god Ptah, the patron of craftsmen. The history of Memphis is closely linked to that of the country itself. Its eventual downfall is believed to have been due to the loss of memphis dry rub economic significance in late antiquity, following the rise of coastal Alexandria. Today, the ruins of the former capital offer fragmented evidence of its past.

Along with the pyramid complex at Giza, they have been preserved as a World Heritage Site since 1979. Memphis has had several names during its history of almost four millennia. Because of its size, the city also came to be known by various other names that were the names of neighbourhoods or districts that enjoyed considerable prominence at one time or another. Greek adaptation of the name that they had given to the pyramid of Pepi I, located west of the city.

The modern town Mit Rahina probably received its name from the ancient Egyptian later name for Memphis mjt-rhnt meaning “Road of the Ram-Headed Sphinxes” being a reference to the ancient causeway connecting Memphis and Saqqara, on which the procession of the dead bull travelled for burial in the Serapeum of Saqqara. In the Bible, Memphis is called Moph. Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. The city was also the place that marked the boundary between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Today, the footprint of the ancient city is uninhabited. The closest modern settlement is the town of Mit Rahina.

Estimates of historical population size differ widely among sources. According to Tertius Chandler, Memphis had some 30,000 inhabitants and was by far the largest settlement worldwide from the time of its foundation until approximately 2250 BC and from 1557 to 1400 BC. During the Old Kingdom, Memphis became the capital of Ancient Egypt for more than eight consecutive dynasties. The city reached a peak of prestige under the Sixth Dynasty as a centre for the worship of Ptah, the god of creation and artworks. The legend recorded by Manetho was that Menes, the first king to unite the Two Lands, established his capital on the banks of the Nile by diverting the river with dikes. Little is known about the city of the Old Kingdom. It was the state capital of the powerful kings, who reigned from Memphis from the date of the First Dynasty.