city was founded by Aha or Narmer, the
historical originals of Mena or Menes; but we have another theory with
regard to its foundation, that it was originally built by King Merpeba
Atjab, whose tomb was also discovered at Abydos near those of Aha and
Narmer. Merpeba is the oldest king whose name is absolutely identified
with one occurring in the XIXth Dynasty king-lists and in Manetho. He
is certainly the "Merbap" or "Merbepa" ("Merbapen") of the lists and the
_Miebis_ of Manetho. In both the lists and in Manetho he stands fifth in
order from Mena, and he was therefore the sixth king of the Ist Dynasty.
The lists, Manetho, and the small monuments in his own tomb agree in
making him the immediate successor of Semti Den (Ousaphais), and from
the style of these latter it is evident that he comes after Tja, Tjer,
Narmer, and Aha. That is to say, the contemporary evidence makes him the
fifth king from Aha, the first original of "Menes."

Now after the piety of Seti I had led him to erect a great temple at
Abydos in memory of the ancient kings, whose sepulchres had probably
been brought to light shortly before, and to compile and set up in the
temple a list of his predecessors, a certain pious snobbery or snobbish
piety impelled a worthy named Tunure, who lived at Memphis, to put up in
his own tomb at Sakkara a tablet of kings like the royal one at Abydos.
If Osiris-Khentamenti at Abydos had his tablet of kings, so should
Osiris-Seker at Sakkara. But Tunure does not begin his list with Mena;
his initial king is Merpeba. For him Merpeba was the first monarch to be
commemorated at Sakkara. Does not this look very much as if the strictly
historical Merpeba, not the rather legendary and confused Mena, was
regarded as the first Memphite king? It may well be that it was in
the reign of Merpeba, not in that of Aha or Narmer, that Memphis was
founded.

The XIXth Dynasty lists of course say nothing about Mena or Merpeba
having founded Memphis; they only give the names of the kings, nothing
more. The earliest authority for the ascription of Memphis to "Menes",
is Herodotus, who was followed in this ascription, as in many other
matters, by Manetho; but it must be remembered that Manetho was writing
for the edification of a Greek king (Ptolemy Philadelphus) and his Greek
court at Alexandria, and had therefore to evince a respect for the great
Greek classic which he may not always have really felt. Herodotus is
not, of course, accused of