mpt at etymology.

The legend which identifies the establishment of the kingdom with the
construction of the city, must have originated at a 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 at 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. When the
hero was once created and firmly established in his position, there was
little difficulty in inventing a story about him which would portray him
as a paragon and an ideal sovereign.

He was represented in turn as architect, warrior, and statesman; he had
founded Memphis, 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"--both the words and the tune of which were
handed down from generation to generation.

He did not, moreover, disdain the luxuries of the table, for he invented
the art of serving a dinner, and the mode of eating it in a reclining
posture. One day, while hunting, his dogs, excited by something or
other, fell upon him to devour him. He escaped with difficulty and,
pursued by them, fled to the shore of Lake Moeris, and was there
brought to bay; he was on the point of succumbing to them, when a
crocodile took him on his back and carried him across to the other side.
In gratitude he built a new town, which he called Crocodilopolis, and
assigned to it for its god the crocodile which had saved him; he then
erected close to it the famous labyrinth and a pyramid for his tomb.

Other traditions show him in a less favorable light. They accuse him of
having, by horrible crimes, excited against him the anger of the gods,
and allege that after a reign of sixty-two years he was killed by a
hippopotamus which came forth from the Nile. They also relate that the
Saite Tafnakhti, returning from an expedition against the Arabs, during
which he had been obliged to renounce the pomp and luxuries of life, had
solemnly cursed him, and had caused his imprecations to be inscribed
upon a "stele"[21] set up in the temple of Amon at Thebes. Nevertheless,
in the memory that Egypt preserved of its