Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/30

 Mena founded his new capital 360 miles north of Thinis. The Nahsi or Negroes, in the south, were troublesome rather than dangerous neighbours, and the whole length of the Nile valley was protected by the natural defences of the Libyan hills on the west and the Arabian on the east, but the Delta had no such shelter, and through its plains the way to the rich luxuriant valley lay open to an invading force, whether of the fair-haired Libyans from the west or the warlike tribes of the Amu and the Herusha from the east. Memphis was built some miles south of the point where the narrow valley of the Nile opens out into the broad plains of the Delta. Here the river ran near the Libyan hills; so, by Mena's orders, its course was turned aside to gain a wider space for the new city—Mennefer, he called it—the 'secure and beautiful.' He first of all erected a magnificent temple, which he dedicated to Ptah, 'Father of the beginning'