The site of Memphis preserves the archaeological remains of the first capital of a unified pharaonic Egypt, including the site of the temple of Ptah which gives its name to the city and the country (Hikuptah Aigyptos Egypt). The Egypt Explorations Societys survey of Memphis began in 1981 and has run up to the present. An exceptionally rich textual and pictorial archive is one important source of information available to us, and is presented here, highlighting the work of Joseph Hekekyan, a talented and pioneering archaeologist who worked at Memphis and many other sites in the 1850s but who is surprisingly almost unknown today.

The site of Memphis preserves the archaeological remains of the first capital of a unified pharaonic Egypt, including the site of the temple of Ptah which gives its name to the city and the country (Hikuptah Aigyptos Egypt). The Egypt Explorations Societys survey of Memphis began in 1981 and has run up to the present. An exceptionally rich textual and pictorial archive is one important source of information available to us, and is presented here, highlighting the work of Joseph Hekekyan, a talented and pioneering archaeologist who worked at Memphis and many other sites in the 1850s but who is surprisingly almost unknown today.