The capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom was Memphis (also known as Men-nefer (‘established and beautiful’) and Ineb-hedj (‘white walls’), as it had been during the Early Dynastic period (about 3100-2613 BC) . Memphis is located to the south of the junction between the Nile valley and the Delta. The necropolis (cemetery) associated with the city stretches for over thirty kilometres along the west bank of the Nile and includes the famous sites of Giza and Saqqara. The ‘false door’ was a standard feature of tombs in the Memphis region. This is a particularly large and impressive example of the ‘palace façade’ type, so-called after the royal brick palaces that were thought to look like this. Ptahshepses was a high priest of Ptah and, according to the two right-hand columns of text, one of the royal children of the reigns of Menkaure and Shepseskaf, the last two major kings of the Fourth Dynasty (about 2613-2494 BC). If the four remaining large columns had another royal name at the top, Ptahshepses’ career would extend at least until the reign of Niuserre in the Fifth Dynasty. There is even a mention of a temple of Niuserre’s successor Menkauhor. It is possible then that Ptahshepses lived from about 2490 to about 2400 BC, a very long life for anyone at that time.Limestone false door of Ptahshepses