The capital city of Egypt in Moses’ time or even before that in Joseph’s time seems to have been Memphis, not Luxor or Giza or even Sakkara, and this despite the fact that we find no pyramid tombs in Memphis, and the first pyramid attempts were in Sakkara anyway. So we need to visit those two early sites before moving on to Cairo and the Giza plateau. Let’s start with Memphis… no not the one that is the home of the Blues etc. ‘Long distance information, get me Memphis in Egypt’
The big dog Pharaoh was of course Ramses II, and there is a huge red granite statue of him in Memphis, as well as elsewhere… here is the ole boy lying in state, so to speak…
One of the interesting things about these pharaonic statues is that they are carved out of single pieces of granite of various sorts. In the early ones the carvers, because of the weight of the statue, felt they need to have a back support for it…
Sometimes wives made it onto the pedestal of these statues…
There are also sphinxes to be seen in Memphis, but what was the religious function of a sphinx?