nd the origin of
Memphis, probably signified "the good refuge," the haven of the good,
the burying-place where the blessed dead came to rest beside Osiris. The
people soon forgot the true interpretation, or probably it did not fall
in with their taste for romantic tales. They were rather disposed, as a
rule, to discover in the beginnings of history individuals from whom the
countries or cities with which they were familiar took their names:
if no tradition supplied them with this, they did not experience any
scruple in inventing one. The Egyptians of the time of the Ptolemies,
who were guided in their philological speculations by the pronunciation
in vogue around them, attributed the patronship of their city to a
Princess Memphis, a daughter of its founder, the fabulous Uchoreus;
those of preceding ages before the name had become altered, thought
to find in Minnofiru a "Mini Nofir," or "Menes the Good," the reputed
founder of the capital of the Delta. Menes the Good, divested of his
epithet, is none other than Menes, the first king, and he owes this
episode in his life to a popular attempt at etymology. The legend which
identifies the establishment of the kingdom with the construction of
the city, must have originated at the time when Memphis was still the
residence of the kings and the seat of government, at latest about the
end of the Memphite period. It must have been an old tradition in the
time of the Theban dynasties, since they admitted unhesitatingly the
authenticity of the statements which ascribed to the northern city so
marked a superiority over their own country.

[Illustration: 343.jpg NECKLACE, BEARING NAME OF MENES. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin after Prisse d'Avenues. The gold
medallions engraved with the name of Menes are ancient, and
perhaps go back to the XXth dynasty; the setting is entirely
modern, with the exception of the three oblong pendants of
cornelian.

When once this half-mythical Menes was firmly established in his
position, there was little difficulty in inventing a story which would
portray him as an ideal sovereign. He was represented as architect,
warrior, and statesman; he had begun the temple of Phtah, written laws
and regulated the worship of the gods, particularly that of Hapis, and
he had conducted expeditions against the Libyans. When he lost his only
son in the flower of his age, the people improvised a hymn of mourning
to console him--the "Maneros"--bo