Lower Egypt, from the Old Kingdom capital Memphis to the Mediterranean Sea, had 20 nomes. The first was based around Memphis, Saqqara, and Giza, in the area occupied by modern-day Cairo. The nomes were numbered in a more or less orderly fashion south to north through the Nile delta. The numbering started in the west, and continued with the higher numbers in the east. Alexandria was in the Third Nome; Bubastis was in the Eighteenth.