Memphis: United Egypt's First Capital

孟菲斯：埃及统一后的第一个首都

The city of Memphis, located on the Nile near the modern city of Cairo, was founded around 3100 B.C. as the first capital of a recently united Egypt.The choice of Memphis by Egypt's first kings reflects the site's strategic importance.First, and most obvious, the apex of the Nile River delta was a politically opportune location for the state's administrative center, standing between the united lands of Upper and Lower Egypt and offering ready access to both parts of the country.The older predynastic (pre-3100 B.C.) centers of power, This and Hierakonpolis, were too remote from the vast expanse of the delta, which had been incorporated into the unified state.Only a city within easy reach of both the Nile valley to the south and the more spread out, difficult terrain to the north could provide the necessary political control that the rulers of early dynastic Egypt (roughly 3000-2600 B.C.) required.

孟菲斯，坐落在尼罗河边，临着现在的开罗，它成立于公元前3100年，作为埃及王国统一后的第一个首都，埃及第一批国王们选择孟菲斯这座城市反映出了地理的重要性。首先，很明显的是，尼罗河三角洲的顶端是一个合适的政治地位作为一个国际的行政中心，立足与埃及上方和下方的中间，然后随时可以进入到国家的各个地方。老的前王朝时期（公元前3100年前）权利的中心，蒂斯和波利斯，离广阔的三角洲区域太远。而这片区域已经并入了统一后的埃及。一做城市只有既能够容易的到达尼罗河流域的南部，又能到达以及广阔且地形复杂的北方，这座城市才能提供早期埃及王国的统治者（大约在公元前3000-2600年）所需要的必要的政治控制。

The region of Memphis must have also served as an important node for transport and communications, even before the unification of Egypt.The region probably acted as a conduit for much, if not all, of the river-based trade between northern and southern Egypt. Moreover, commodities (such as wine, precious oils, and metals) imported from the Near East by the royal courts of predynastic Upper Egypt would have been channeled through the Memphis region on their way south. In short, therefore, the site of Memphis offered the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period an ideal location for controlling internal trade within their realm, an essential requirement for a state-directed economy that depended on the movement of goods.

孟菲斯这个地区必须作为一个重要的交通和通讯枢纽，即使是在埃及统一之前。这个地区是在北方和南方之间依靠河流作为交易的主要的渠道。此外，商品（比如酒，珍贵的油，和金属）被位于上游的古埃及皇家宫廷，从NEAR EAST进口，然后通过孟菲斯地区达到南部。总而言之，所以，孟菲斯的位置给早起王朝的统治者在他们的领域之内提供了一个绝佳的位置来控制国内的交易，这样就为一个国家主导的依靠商品流动的经济这提供了一个基本的必要条。

Equally important for the national administration was the ability to control communications within Egypt.The Nile provided the easiest and quickest artery of communication and the national capital was, again, ideally located in this respect .Recent geological surveys of the Memphis region have revealed much about its topography in ancient times.It appears that the location of Memphis may have been even more advantageous for controlling trade, transport, and communications than was previously appreciated. Surveys and drill cores have shown that the level of the Nile floodplain has steadily risen over the last five millenniums.When the floodplain was much lower, as it would have been in predynastic and early dynastic times, the outwash fans (fan-shaped deposits of sediments) of various wadis (stream-beds or channels that carry water only during rainy periods) would have been much more prominent features on the east bank .The fan associated with the Wadi Hof extended a significant way into the Nile floodplain, forming a constriction in the vicinity of Memphis.The valley may have narrowed at this point to a mere three kilometers, making it the ideal place for controlling river traffic.

对于国家的管理者来说，控制埃及的通讯也是同样的重要，尼罗河提供了一个简单又快速的信息的主干道，然后，国家的首都又完美的处在这个位置。近代的关于孟菲斯的地质的调查透露了它的一些古代地势的信息。它显示出孟菲斯的地势在控制商品交易，交通，通讯方面比之前预想的还要有优势。调查和钻探显示尼罗河的泛滥平原的高度在近五千年在稳步的上升。在前王朝时期，或者是在早起王朝时期，泛滥平原很低，不同的河谷（只有在雨季才会有河流通过的河床和渠道）的冰水扇（扇形的沉积物）在东岸会有更多的显著特征。冰水扇延长到了尼罗河，在孟菲斯旁边造成了挤压，这个山谷变得狭长只有三公里宽，使得他变成了一个绝佳的地方在控制河流交通。

Furthermore, the Memphis region seems to have been favorably located for the control not only of river-based trade but also of desert trade routes.The two outwash fans in the area gave access to the extensive wadi systems of the eastern desert.In predynastic times, the Wadi Digla may have served as a trade route between the Memphis region and the Near East, to judge from the unusual concentration of foreign artifacts found in the predynastic settlement of Maadi. Access to, and control of, trade routes between Egypt and the Near East seems to have been a preoccupation of Egypt’s rulers during the period of state formation.The desire to monopolize foreign trade may have been one of the primary factors behind the political unification of Egypt. The foundation of the national capital at the junction of an important trade route with the Nile valley is not likely to have been accidental. Moreover, the Wadis Hof and Digla provided the Memphis region with accessible desert pasturage.As was the case with the cities of Hierakonpolis and Elkab, the combination within the same area of both desert pasturage and alluvial arable land (land suitable for growing crops) was a particularly attractive one for early settlement; this combination no doubt contributed to the prosperity of the Memphis region from early predynastic times.

然而，孟菲斯地区似乎不仅仅拥有一个以河流作为依托的交易，而且还作为一个陆地沙漠贸易的有利的地形，两个沉积在那个区域提供了一个达到东部沙漠的河道系统的入口。在古埃及王朝的时期，DIgla河可以作为一个孟菲斯和NEAR EAST的交易的道路。从MAADI古王朝集聚点发现的罕见的集中的国外的文物可以证实这一点。进入，控制埃及和NEAR EAST的贸易路线似乎成了埃及统治者在建国之前的当务之急。垄断国外交易的意愿已经成了埃及统一背后的基础的条件。把国家的首都建立在重要贸易和尼罗河流域的交汇处绝非偶然。此外，Wadis河和Digla河给孟菲斯地区提供了方便的沙漠牧场，以Hierakonpolis和Elkab为例，在同一个区域拥有沙漠牧场和冲击耕地（适合耕地的土地）成了一个早期特别吸引人的聚集地，这个组合毫无疑问构建了孟菲斯早期王朝的繁荣。