A symbolic landscape of Memphis: landscape, monuments, people and the gods

This thesis examines the ancient Egyptian symbolic landscape of Memphis to the end of the Old Kingdom, circa 2100 BC. The principal research objective is to examine what monuments mean and evaluate them within the context of an existing symbolic system, in contrast to the traditional functional explanations that describe a monument's purpose in terms of how the landscape was used and exploited. It also considers myths, legends and place names as a means to understand the cultural landscape. This thesis is principally structured in three parts. The first part covers the recent work done on reconstructing the ancient landscape of the Memphis region. The objective is to describe the region in terms of its natural topography and geology to gain an insight into the ancient perception of the landscape. A literature review chapter discusses the most recent research in areas of landscape, pyramid studies and related subjects. Theoretically, this thesis uniquely approaches Egyptology from a symbolic landscape perspective, where monuments, landscape and people are all active participants in the society, in a constant reflexive and interpretive relationship. The objective here is to gain an understanding of how landscape and monumental architecture influenced the ancient Egyptians and, in turn, how the Egyptians used architecture as a symbolic expression. The data source for this research is based on published literary sources and personal fieldwork. This work is presented in a series of tables, which include the temporal and spatial distribution of archaeology in Memphis, pyramid site inter-visibility, pyramid locations and relative distances and material types used in pyramid construction. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of this material is evaluated to interpret the natural and cultural landscape of Memphis. The conclusions illustrate how Memphis was sacred before the monuments were built, through the cultural appropriation of the local topography and ancestor acknowledgement