Thinkers Timeline

Imhotep was an ancient Egyptian architect, doctor, and high official. He lived around 2,650 BCE, more than 4,500 years ago. This makes him one of the earliest individuals in history whose name and work we still know. He served the pharaoh Djoser, third king of Egypt's Third Dynasty. Most of what we know about him comes from later inscriptions and traditions. He was probably born to ordinary parents, not from the royal family. He rose through his own talent. He held many titles at Djoser's court. Inscriptions from his time call him chancellor, high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis, and chief carpenter and sculptor. He may also have served as the king's chief doctor. He was clearly one of the most important people in the kingdom, second only to the pharaoh himself. His greatest known work is the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. It was built as a tomb for Djoser. Before this pyramid, Egyptian kings were buried in flat-topped mud-brick tombs called mastabas. Imhotep stacked six mastabas of decreasing size on top of each other and built them in stone, not mud. The result was the world's first large stone building. It still stands today. After his death, Imhotep's reputation grew over the centuries. By around 500 BCE, more than 2,000 years after his life, he was being worshipped as a god of medicine and wisdom. The Greeks later identified him with their own healing god Asclepius. His tomb has never been found.