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ROBERTHARDING.COM, BY JOHN ROSS

EGYPTIAN REFUGE. Following the Babylonian conquest of Judah in the early sixth century BC, many Judeans fled to Egypt. The prophet Jeremiah scolded his compatriots for seeking comfortable lives in foreign cities, including the Egyptian administrative and religious center of Memphis (Jeremiah 44:1). Despite denouncing the idolatry adopted by some of the exiled Judeans and announcing Egypt’s imminent destruction by the Babylonians, Jeremiah himself ultimately settled in the land of the pharaohs. Nestled among the groves of the modern village of Mit Rahina, about 15 miles south of Cairo, are the scattered ruins of ancient Memphis, including the pillared hall of the Temple of Ptah, the Egyptian creator god.