The Survey of Memphis VII

The Hekekyan Papers and Other Sources for the Survey of Memphis

by David G. Jeffreys

Book cover: The Survey of Memphis VII

Extent: 225 pages

Publisher: Egypt Exploration Society

Subjects: Ancient Egypt

Series: Excavation Memoir

Series volume number: 95

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(December 2010)

ISBN: 9780856981920

Price: $50.00

Out of stock

The Memphis site, Egypt’s first capital, includes the temple of Ptah. The Egypt Exploration Society’s survey, starting in 1981, utilizes a rich textual and pictorial archive. This volume highlights Joseph Hekekyan, a pioneering but largely forgotten archaeologist from the 1850s.


The site of Memphis preserves the archaeological remains of the first capital of a unified pharaonic Egypt, including the site of the temple of Ptah which gives its name to the city and the country (Hikuptah – Aigyptos – Egypt). The Egypt Explorations Society’s survey of Memphis began in 1981 and has run up to the present. An exceptionally rich textual and pictorial archive is one important source of information available to us, and is presented here, highlighting the work of Joseph Hekekyan, a talented and pioneering archaeologist who worked at Memphis and many other sites in the 1850’s but who is – surprisingly – almost unknown today.

  • By (author) David G. Jeffreys