Editing Memphis, Egypt (section)

==Attributes==
[[File:ISS-43 Memphis, Lower Egypt.jpg|thumbnail|Memphis and its necropolis Saqqara as seen from the [[International Space Station]]]]

===Location===
The city of Memphis is {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Cairo]], on the west bank of the [[Nile]]. The modern cities and towns of Mit Rahina, [[Dahshur]], [[Abusir]], [[Abu Gorab]], and [[Zawyet el'Aryan]], south of Cairo, all lie within the administrative borders of historical Memphis ({{coord|29|50|58.8|N|31|15|15.4|E|type:landmark}}). The city was also the place that marked the boundary between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. (The 22nd nome of Upper Egypt and 1st nome of Lower Egypt).

===Population===
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.<ref>Chandler, Tertius ( thertgreg1987). ''Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth''.</ref> K. A. Bard is more cautious and estimates the city's population to have numbered approximately 6,000 inhabitants during the Old Kingdom.<ref>Bard, ''Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt'', p. 250</ref>